When you enter this Normandy tobacconist, you quickly notice these mysterious little round boxes arranged in a Plexiglas shelf between the Malabars and a Chupa Chups lollipop display. Inside, there are no sweets – although the “red fruit” or “frosted mint” flavors might suggest otherwise – but tobacco-free nicotine sachets, the latest invention from industry manufacturers to win over new customers.
They are inspired by Swedish snus, a moist tobacco powder banned in most European countries since 1992 and which is consumed orally, but they only contain synthetic nicotine. And according to their producers, they are completely harmless and intended for adult consumers. In countries that have been marketing them for a long time, however, we notice that they tend to encourage smoking among young people. At our tobacconist and contrary to what professionals in the sector ask, you just have to hold out your arm to grab a box of nicopouches, while cigarettes and all other tobacco-derived products are only available on request.
A study of the National Institute of Consumption/60 Million Consumers in partnership with the National Committee Against Smoking (CNCT) published on December 10 highlighted the dangerousness of these products. The institute analyzed the composition of seven different nicopouches in the laboratory and identified two main problems: the sugar content of these products and the presence of heavy metals.
“All the references tested contain sucralose,” indicates a CNCT spokesperson, “a substance whose sweetening power is 600 times greater than table sugar.” Concretely, this means that according to the association, certain references “have a taste as sweet as products which contain between 78% and 137% sugar”. Behind the results of these analyses, the CNCT sees the attempt by manufacturers to target new, younger customers. At the end of 2024, 30% of adolescents aged 13 to 16 had already heard of nicopouches, i.e. 11 points more than in 2023, according to a study of the Alliance Against Tobacco (ACT).
Furthermore, the laboratory of the National Consumer Institute detected in several sachets the presence of certain heavy metals such as lead, antimony (which can harm fertility or the development of the fetus) or even arsenic. This is naturally present in our environment and the INC judges that its presence in the bag is “a probable sign of contamination of the raw materials used.” Problem: the European Chemicals Agency considers that the product is “toxic if swallowed.” For Antoine Haentjens, design engineer at the institute, “all these elements are not sufficiently reassuring to support marketing authorization.” He advocates for a ban on the products.
One of the main products in question is the ZYN brand sachet, produced by Philip Morris International (PMI), leader on the American nicopouche market but well ahead of its competitors on the European market. Traces of arsenic six times greater than those found in a conventional cigarette were discovered by the INC. Contacted, the company explains that it “does not market oral nicotine products in France and cannot, therefore, confirm either the origin or the authenticity of the nicotine sachets tested”. It also claims to have conducted its own analyzes with an accredited laboratory in Sweden, which did not detect the same levels of arsenic.
Political headwinds
Ten days after the publication of our investigation into nicopouches, at the end of October, the Minister of Health announced her desire to ban them from the start of 2025. Since then, the motion of censure has been passed, bringing down the government by Michel Barnier and compromising this regulatory project. The associations are worried, especially since during the negotiation of the budget, the Alliance against Tobacco noticed “an inconsistency within the coalition parties themselves”. An amendment was thus voted on on November 21, in favor of debtors and contrary to the Minister’s declarations. “This amendment aims to tax the sale of nicotine sachets and to firmly regulate it by allowing its sale only to tobacconists,” explained its author, Senator Xavier Iacovelli (Renaissance), before the upper house. The ACT sees this as proof of “the power of tobacconist lobbies”.
“The consumption of these products is spreading very quickly,” worries Antoine Haentjens of the INC. “The longer we wait to ban them, the more widespread they will be and the more complicated it will be to ban them.” While the French public authorities procrastinate on the issue, Belgium has already put an end to their marketing, quickly followed by the Netherlands. Meanwhile, at the Normandy retailer, the round plastic boxes still sit in their Plexiglas window, between the Malabars and a Chupa Chups lollipop display.