Press Release
• Anti-pouch stance may keep millions smoking cigarettes
• Critics say report ignores key evidence on reduced-risk nicotine products
A MAJOR World Health Organisation report attacking nicotine pouches has been condemned by harm reduction campaigners as “dangerous misinformation that could cost lives.”
Critics say the document repeatedly blurs the distinction between deadly combustible cigarettes and dramatically less harmful smoke-free products – despite growing evidence that nicotine pouches sit at the very bottom of the risk spectrum.
The WHO warns that harm reduction tools – used by Sweden to become the only smoke free country in Europe – are “aggressively marketed and promoted to young people”, and claims they are helping “normalise nicotine use”.
But campaigners said the report is remarkable for what it leaves out: cigarettes kill up to half of long-term users, while nicotine pouches contain no combustion and no tobacco leaf – the primary drivers of smoking-related cancer, cardiovascular and lung disease.
Richard Crosby, Director of Considerate Pouchers UK, said:
“The WHO appears unable or unwilling to communicate relative risk. “That matters because when public health bodies imply all nicotine products are equally dangerous, many smokers simply continue smoking – which is by far the worst outcome.
“The report itself acknowledges that nicotine pouches do not contain tobacco leaf, but attacks the idea they can be marketed as a replacement for cigarettes, despite them being used by smokers trying to quit. This is a dangerous, illogical position.”
The report further attacks slogans such as “no smoke, no smell, no hassle”.
But Mr Crosby said:
“Those statements are objectively true. Nicotine pouches do not produce smoke or smell, and pretending otherwise is scientifically absurd. This report is not evidence-based public health – it forms part of a broad, aggressive anti-nicotine ideology.”
Independent analyses increasingly place pouches among the lowest-risk nicotine products available.
The Murkett scale – one of the best-known comparative assessments – ranks combustible cigarettes at the top of the danger scale while nicotine pouches sit effectively at zero relative risk by comparison.
The WHO also warns that nicotine pouches are marketed for “discreet” use and claims this “undermines regulations prohibiting smoking.”
But campaigners said using a smoke-free nicotine product discreetly is not remotely equivalent to smoking cigarettes indoors.
Mr Crosby added:
“One produces smoke, tar and combustion toxins. The other does not. There is dangerous misinformation in this report that frankly, could cost lives.”
The WHO also claims nicotine pouches are marketed with “unsubstantiated claims” relating to smoking cessation.
Yet real-world evidence increasingly shows smoke-free nicotine products are replacing cigarettes for millions of adults.
Sweden has used snus, nicotine pouches and other oral nicotine products to become “smoke free”, with public consumption below 5%.
It also has among the lowest tobacco-related mortality rates and among the lowest male lung cancer rates in Europe.
Crucially, decades of widespread snus use in Sweden did not produce the oral cancer epidemic repeatedly predicted by opponents of smokeless nicotine products.
Mark Oates, founder of We Vape, said:
“The Swedish experience completely undermines the WHO’s narrative. Sweden achieved historically low smoking rates not through prohibitionist ideology, but by giving smokers acceptable alternatives. To ignore this raises serious questions about the credibility of WHO and its motives.”
The WHO report repeatedly expresses alarm at the rapid growth of nicotine pouches, noting that global sales rose by more than 50% in a single year and that the international market is now worth nearly £5.6 billion.
The organisation additionally criticises nicotine pouch companies for sponsorships, influencer marketing and youth-oriented branding.
Campaigners said youth marketing restrictions should be strictly enforced – but accused the WHO of using those concerns to justify “demonising” nicotine itself.
The report follows years of WHO hostility toward vaping, despite public health experts in the UK – including the NHS – repeatedly concluding e-cigarettes are substantially less harmful than smoking, and are one of the most common aids used in quit attempts.
The WHO paper follows the granting of Royal Assent of the Tobacco and Vapes Act, which has age restricted pouch sales to 18+.
While calls for strength caps were ignored, they remain an option.
The 20isPlenty campaign, led by Considerate Pouchers UK, establishes a 20mg per pouch limit as the definitive “Goldilocks” standard for nicotine regulation – a safe level but strong enough to stop a heavy smoker lighting up.
For interviews of more information contact richard@oismedia.group
