France Announces Nicotine Pouch Ban
The land of “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” might need to change its famous motto. Unfounded fears over youth nicotine pouch use mean that France will ban the harm-reduction product in a few weeks, forcing many consumers back toward lethal cigarettes.
Let’s take a look at what’s happening.
Contents
Why is France banning nicotine pouches?
In an exclusive interview with Le Parisien on October 29th, French Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq announced the government will ban nicotine pouches. Citing fears over youth use, the physician and MoDem member wheeled out some of the old tobacco control greatest hits.
Darrieussecq claims that she’s worried that pouches are a gateway to smoking despite the total absence of evidence to support this position. The recent Eurobarometer report shows that among 15-24 year-old nicotine users, only 1% say pouches are the first product they use.
Additionally, she asserts that nicotine pouches are targeted at teens, which is funny because, per the same recent Eurobarometer report, almost 3 in 4 people aged 15-24 say they’ve never seen an ad for nicotine pouches. Which begs the question, if teens are being “directly targeted”, how are they avoiding all the ads? Have ad blockers become that good?
However, Darrieussecq has also added a new scare tactic into the mix: a dangerous rise in nicotine poisoning.
Poison control calls
Another reason that drove Darrieussecq toward banning pouches was an alleged uptick in calls about nicotine poisoning. This claim is more challenging to debunk because no data on this supposed dramatic rise is available. Consequently, it’s also a lot easier to make this claim unchecked and use it as the basis to push through health policies.
If pouches are misused — or purchased from shady online retailers or black market operators — the amount of nicotine could be high enough to cause some adverse reactions, especially among first-time users.
Without releasing the data, it’s hard to understand how much of a “problem” this really is. Have the calls DOUBLED from 2 to 4? How do they compare to cases of alcohol poisoning or calls from people who have consumed too many sugary and caffeine-laden energy drinks?
Misery loves company
Speaking of sugary drinks, Darrieussecq is coming for them too. In the same interview, she announced a tax that will encourage manufacturers to reduce sugar revenues. For an insight into how effective this policy might be, we only need to look at the UK’s soft drinks industry levy.
Initial research suggested the levy had a positive impact, with claims it had reduced sugar consumption by 10%. Then, the researchers had to retract their paper because it contained some “errors”, and the impact was revised to a paltry 2.7%.
Interestingly, the levy has not impacted UK obesity rates, which have remained stable since the policy was introduced. At least Darrieussecq’s embrace of public health ideology over data is consistent, I guess.
Some final thoughts
France has scandalously high smoking rates, with prevalence as high as 25%. Smoking is concentrated among less educated or low-income communities, where rates reach as high as 30%. What’s more, the country has bucked the trend among EU countries and has a stagnating smoking rate.
The one bright spot for smoking was among young adults, with a 2023 report suggesting teen smoking was at its lowest rate for 20 years. Of course, this cohort is also likely to use vapes and pouches, which goes some way toward explaining the lower rates.
With smoking rates this high, France needs innovative, evidence-based policies and freely available harm-reduction products. Banning nicotine pouches cuts off the hands-down safest way to consume nicotine.
When a few calls about nicotine poisoning are treated as more of a problem than around 80,000 smoking-related deaths a year, you have to wonder what’s actually going on.
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