A state legislator is moving to outlaw the sale of flavored nicotine pouches, despite the federal Food and Drug Administration’s endorsement of the product’s potential health benefits in helping smokers cut back or quit cancer-causing cigarettes.
But replacing tobacco-laced cigarettes with “highly addictive” nicotine pouches is not the answer, said Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who is pushing to ban the flavored pouches to keep them away from impressionable young kids.
“This product is distinguishable from other smokeless tobacco products because they do not contain tobacco leaf, rather contain nicotine derived from tobacco or synthetic nicotine,” Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan) acknowledged in his bill memo.
“Regardless, nicotine in any form and in any product is a highly addictive substance. This legislation would align New York values in prohibiting enticing flavors for all nicotine products — including nicotine pouches,” he said.
Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) is introducing a companion bill to ban nicotine pouches in the other chamber.
The FDA in January approved 10 flavors of the Zyn brand of nicotine pouches manufactured by Philip Morris International — including coffee, mint and menthol.
It was the first time regulators authorized sales of nicotine pouches, which are the fastest-growing sector of the US tobacco market.
Nicotine pouches, which are held in the mouth and dissolved between the tongue and gum, are also becoming more popular among youths, according to a Post survey of nearly a dozen local high school students about what substances they are — and aren’t — using.
Zyn is the brand of choice, students told The Post.
An annual federal survey, based on responses from 24,000 students in grades 8, 10 and 12 across the country, found that the amount of 12th graders using Zyn and other pouches increased from just 3% in 2023 to 6% last year.
That’s exactly what Hoylman-Siegal is trying to stop — youths from getting addicted to nicotine.
“Our bill is targeted at the flavored products most likely to be used by young people. With our bill, we’re trying to stop young people from getting hooked on favored Zyn products,” the senator said on Sunday.
New York has already banned flavored e-cigarettes, though critics claim the law is not aggressively enforced.
“It’s very similar to the issue involving flavored vapes,” Hoylman-Sigal said.
But FDA officials said Zyn contains fewer harmful ingredients than cigarettes and various types of chewing tobacco, including snuff, which are linked to cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
Company data also showed “a substantial portion of adults” who previously smoked switched completely to Zyn, regulators said. The pouches are sold in two different strengths.
“The data show that these nicotine pouch products meet that bar by benefiting adults who use cigarettes or smokeless tobacco products,” said Matthew Farrelly of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products.
The FDA also questioned whether nicotine pouches truly are the rage among youths, pointing to government survey data showing fewer than 2% of American high school and middle school students used nicotine pouches last year.
It would be a mistake for New York to ban Zyn and other nicotine pouches, said Brian Erkilla, director of regulatory science at Philip Morris International, which produces Zyn.
The “unintended consequences” include leaving 1.6 million tobacco smokers with fewer alternatives to kick the deadly habit, and could even lead to additional smoking, he said.
“The most harmful product is the combustible smoking cigarette. We should let smokers know there are other options out there. We shouldn’t take away their choice,” Erkilla said.
Still, Hoylman-Sigal pointed out that the FDA also warned firms not to market nicotine pouches to youths and that no tobacco product is safe.
Meanwhile, opponents said a ban would hurt local convenience stores, and could even boost criminal trafficking in the black market.
“The New York border with Canada has historically been a thoroughfare for criminal trafficking and the ports create increased vulnerability. Banning these products would just create a new cash crop for these dangerous criminal cartels that will exploit this lucrative market,” said John Dickinson, president of the Border Security Alliance.
“The truth is law enforcement resources are currently stretched across the board and with every new policy that bans a currently legal product, they’ll be stretched even thinner.”
The New York Association of Convenience Stores said not only would removing these products from their members’ shelves cost them business and hurt state tax revenues, but that driving these products to the black market may actually end up increasing access to children.
“These nicotine pouches are a growing part of the sector and banning them would not only limit adults’ access to a less harmful alternative to smoking, but would create a lawless Wild West with no rules on age restrictions, no quality control, less tax revenue for the state and will only hurt legitimate businesses that follow the rules. We need to enforce the laws we have,” NYACS President Alison Ritchie said in a statement.
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