Nicotine sachets, products which particularly target young people, will soon be banned, announced Tuesday October 29 the Minister of Health Geneviève Darrieussecq, a few days before the start of “tobacco-free month”, in November. “The government has decided to ban these products, whether they are sachets containing nicotine to be placed in the mouth, against the gum or under the tongue, which are called pouches, but also similar products which are equally problematic, in the form of erasers or marbles”, she explains in an interview with Parisian.
“The marketing of these products is directly targeted towards young people and I hope that we can protect our youth,” she adds, specifying that a “ban text will be published in the coming weeks”. “I am very concerned because poison control centers are receiving more and more calls from adolescents for acute nicotine syndromes, sometimes severe, linked to the consumption of the pouches. They result in vomiting, convulsions, hypotension even disturbances of conscience”, describes the minister. “These are dangerous products because they contain high doses of nicotine. It is our duty to ban their marketing,” she concludes.
More and more poisonings
Recently appearing, tobacco-free nicotine sachets contain, in a permeable fabric, polymer fibers impregnated with nicotine and flavors and slip between the lip and the gum. In November 2023, ANSES called for “particular vigilance” on these sachets, emphasizing that these products, like aromatic beads, were causing more and more poisoning. “Children and adolescents are the main victims,” noted the health agency. Last May, the National Committee Against Smoking (CNCT) announced the filing of a complaint for “trafficking in poisonous substances” in the face of the “illegal” sale of these nicotine sachets, calling for their ban.
Geneviève Darrieussecq also specifies that the transpartisan bill adopted in Parliament at the start of the year to ban “puffs”, these single-use electronic cigarettes also popular with young people, should be promulgated “in the coming weeks”. “My goal is to stop marketing them before the end of the year,” she says.