Examining Country-Level Regulation of Nicotine Pouches

As nicotine pouch market availability expands, so does heightened concern about increasing nicotine addiction—particularly among youth. The variety of approaches that countries take to classify and regulate these small, permeable, nicotine-filled pouches is the topic of a new IGTC paper published in Tobacco Control—the first such review to offer comparative information on country-level policies for this product type.

Referencing information collected through IGTC’s Nicotine Pouch Policy Scan, lead author Michelle Duren provides novel insight into nicotine pouch markets and regulatory approaches across 67 countries—including whether and how countries distinguish between tobacco-derived nicotine and synthetic nicotine. Regulations centered on tobacco-derived products could potentially fall short in anticipating a continuously evolving market mix that includes synthetic nicotine products.

Highlights from this work were presented at the 2023 annual conference of the Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco.