The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted market authorization for over a dozen ZYN nicotine pouch products, with the agency cautioning that no tobacco product is safe and that the pouches’ risk to young people is outweighed by their benefits to adult cigarette smokers.
The FDA said in a Jan. 16 announcement that, following a scientific review, it concluded that these nicotine pouches contain fewer harmful chemicals than combustible cigarettes and traditional smokeless tobacco, potentially reducing risks of cancer and respiratory disease for adult users transitioning from more dangerous sources of nicotine.
“To receive marketing authorizations, the FDA must have sufficient evidence that the new products offer greater benefits to population health than risks,” Matthew Farrelly, director of the Office of Science in the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement. “In this case, the data show that these nicotine pouch products meet that bar by benefiting adults who use cigarettes and/or smokeless tobacco products and completely switch to these products.”…