Polish Citizens Are Misinformed About Nicotine Pouch Harm

The scientific journal Tobacco Induced Diseases has released a new paper. Titled “Awareness and use of nicotine pouches in a nationwide sample of adults in Poland,” it explores the impact of nicotine pouches on the Polish market and provides other interesting data about perceptions of harm when compared with combustible cigarettes.

Let’s take a look.

The study

The nicotine pouch study interviewed over 1,000 nationally representative Polish citizens in February 2024. The authors asked questions concerning:

• Citizens’ awareness of nicotine pouches.
• Past experience of nicotine pouch use.
• Current use of pouches (defined as any time over the last 30 days).
• Respondents’ perception of the relative harms of nicotine pouches.

Here is a quick summary of the results.

• 24% of those surveyed had ever heard of nicotine pouches.
• Just 9% of respondents had tried pouches.
• 4.3% of adults used pouches within the last 30 days.

Interestingly, according to the survey, while women were more likely to be aware of nicotine pouches than men (26.6% vs. 21.1%), they were less likely to use the product, with 3.1% of adult women currently using versus 5.5% of men.

Additionally, 18–to 29-year-olds were almost 1.5x more likely to have heard of pouches than those in the 30–to 59-year-old demographic. Finally, around 40% of current smokers had ever heard about pouches, which was more than non-smoking citizens but still somewhat low.

Relative harm

The answers to the first three questions posed by the survey will cause little controversy. However, when quizzed about relative harms, things take a darker turn.

Only 32.5% of respondents correctly stated that snus was less harmful than cigarettes. A further 20% felt both products were equally dangerous, with a staggering 18% suggesting they were more toxic than smoking.

Things were just as bad when asked the same question about nicotine pouches. While around 38.5% know that nicotine pouches are less harmful than cigarettes, 17.5% thought pouches and smoking were equally lethal, with an off-the-chart 22.7% believing the harm-reduction product was worse for health.

Final thoughts

Per GSTHR, smoking accounts for around one in every five deaths in Poland. Indeed, while smoking prevalence has declined over the last 20 years in the Central European Republic, around 26% of the adult population currently smoke combustible cigarettes.

Previous research by the author Mateusz Jankowski from 2022 suggested that daily vape use among adults was around 4.8%. While that could be a promising route toward reducing smoking prevalence, the situation is complex.

Polish Health Minister Izabela Leszczyna wanted to ban the sale of disposable vapes this summer. However, the prohibition will not begin until 2025, thanks to a notification procedure. Worse still, this bill also proposes banning all flavours except tobacco.

Banning disposable and limiting flavours while 1 in 4 adults use combustible cigarettes is not just unimaginative, it’s also reckless.

Poland has a clear need for reduced-risk products like nicotine pouches. However, transitioning people who smoke towards these life-changing alternatives requires raising awareness, not just of the products themselves, but also about their relative harm.

There is a lot of work ahead. Pouchers need to get the word out to their Polish brothers and sisters and let them know there are ways to enjoy nicotine without paying a deadly or debilitating price.