'Addictive' nicotine pouches sold to children are replacing disposable vapes
Since the UK ban on disposable vapes came into place in June to protect children from becoming addicted, a new trendy nicotine product has reared its ugly head. With sweet flavours and colourful packaging, nicotine pouches are equally attractive to children.
But there are currently very few regulations on the selling of them. Nicotine pouches are small products containing nicotine, flavourings, sweeteners, and plant-based fibres.
They are placed under the upper lip, allowing nicotine to be absorbed through the gum, and are available in flavours similar to those of vapes including tropical mango, very berry and cherry ice.
While they are thought to be less harmful than smoking or vaping, the long-term health effects of using these products is not yet known. And they are technically legal for kids to buy.
Nicotine pouches are more easily available to buy than vapes and cigarettes, as they don't fall under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR).
Instead, like nicotine-free vapes, they are covered by the less-strict General Products Safety Regulations 2005 (GPSR).
This means that nicotine pouches are currently widely available in store and online and aren't always restricted to over 18s. These regulations also don't have strong rules around advertising or packaging.
While Trading Standards officers are currently ensuring that businesses are no longer selling single-use vapes, they have found that nicotine pouches are now in plain sight at the front of the check-out areas in stores.
This, along with their sweet-like flavours and bright packaging, is causing increasing concern about their attractiveness to children. The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) is calling for all nicotine products to be kept out of children's reach.
Duncan Stephenson, Policy and External Affairs Director at CTSI, said: 'While Trading Standards is working to ensure that the ban on single disposable vapes is in place, we are coming across new and emerging threats.
"It very much feels like a game of whack-a-mole - just as one product is dealt with, another emerges - the availability of potentially harmful products being promoted and sold to our children seems never ending.
"Nicotine pouches are the latest example, with slick marketing, sweet flavours and colourful packaging that risk appealing to young people, whether intended or not."
In order to tackle this recently-emerged threat to young people and schoolkids, a new Tobacco and Vapes Bill is currently making its way through Parliament, and it will outlaw the selling of nicotine pouches to those under the age of 18.
The new Bill will also introduce powers to restrict the use of child-appealing flavours, packaging and advertising and dictate where they can be placed in shops.
But some believe that despite the Bill, the government is not taking quick enough action to tackle the growing problem of children being sold nicotine pouches.
Hazel Cheeseman, Chief Executive at Action on Smoking and Health said: 'The government has all the tools needed to address youth appeal and use of nicotine pouches in legislation before parliament. But parliamentary time has not been found to progress this legislation since April.
"In the meantime, companies, who know their marketing practices will eventually be restricted, are continuing to heavily promote pouches in ways that appeal to children. While they are likely to be very much less harmful than smoking, they contain nicotine which is addictive, and the long-term health impacts are not known.'
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