Health groups are urging Canadian lawmakers to crack down on flavored nicotine products and make nicotine pouches available only by prescription.
In a full-page ad in The Hill Times, Action on Smoking and Health, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Lung Association, the Quebec Alliance for Tobacco Control, Heart Disease and Stroke and Doctors for a Smoke-Free Canada claimed that flavors play a role in attracting children to nicotine Products have played a key role and called on the federal government to ban flavors such as mint and menthol in e-cigarettes.
The ad also calls for action to make nicotine pouches a prescription-only product to protect minors from sales and promotions. Under current federal regulations, nicotine pouches authorized under the Natural Health Products Regulation can be legally sold to minors in convenience stores and can be advertised on television, billboards and social media, including through promotional lifestyle.
"The health minister has other options, such as suspending the sale of nicotine products, which would also allow federal, provincial and territorial authorities to strengthen relevant laws and regulations. For example, Nicotine pouches may be subject to many of the promotion regulations that apply to tobacco and e-cigarette products.”
The ad is partly a response to the success of Imperial Tobacco Canada's Zonnic bag, which Health Canada approved for sale in 2023. The company insists its pouches are designed for adult smokers who want to quit, but health groups reject that claim. Flory Doucas, co-director and spokesperson for the Quebec Tobacco Control Alliance, said: "Unlike other nicotine replacement therapy manufacturers, this company deliberately chose to sell its product through convenience stores and marketed it to young people. lifestyle messages and images to promote.”
