Here we go again with Zyn, the remarkably popular nicotine pouch, intended for adults but in practice, used mostly by young people. I’m not sure users will be reassured by a recent FDA ruling to the effect that stuffing this particular nicotine pouch in your mouth is less harmful than smoking a tobacco cigarette.
To me, that’s akin to a heavy pot smoker arguing that his drug is less harmful than excessive drinking. True, but very few things are as harmful as excessive drinking.
Alcohol is pretty much at the top of the “harm” ladder.
Same applies to tobacco smoking. It’ll be difficult to think of something that isn’t safer.
Gun play, perhaps.
Anyway, here’s a summary on the FDA’s decision, from Wired magazine.
The FDA Ruled That ZYN Pouches Are Safer Than Cigarettes. That Doesn’t Mean They’re Safe
I can’t think of anyone of my acquaintance who relied largely on Zyn to quit smoking. I do know several who used nicotine pouches to cut down on their tobacco consumption— temporarily — but nobody who went all the way to abstinence. And the ones I know all went back to smoking.
But then, Zyn has never been terribly popular among adults — fewer than 3% of the population, I’m told. In terms of acceptance by mature smokers, a target market, it’s something of a failure.
Among the kids however, it’s a big hit, helped by exposure on TikTok and via social media. So the FDA’s decision to ratify Zyn’s status as a safer alternative to tobacco–– since it presumably applies only to grownups–– might not have much impact on adult behavior.
Maybe it’ll make the kids feel good about their pouch habit. Better than a pack of Luckies, I can hear them say.
Still, as the Wired article reminds us, harm may occur. Something on that subject, from the American Cancer Society.
