Warning to Brussels: Don’t deprive women of best tool to quit smoking

BRUSSELS – On International Women’s Day (March 8), health experts are warning Brussels against jeopardising women’s health by restricting or banning nicotine pouches that have helped drive one of the world’s most dramatic declines in female smoking.

The message comes with the release of a new report, Empowerment in a Pouch, which shows how access to oral, tobacco-free nicotine pouches has accelerated Sweden’s progress towards smoke-free status, particularly among women. 

European Commission proposals under consideration as part of the Tobacco Products Directive could reverse this progress if applied across the EU, where more than one in five women still smokes.

“Sweden’s experience shows what happens when women are given realistic alternatives to smoking,” said Professor Marewa Glover, a behavioural scientist and co-author of the report. “Remove those options, and you remove momentum. The danger now is that European policy ignores success and repeats past mistakes.”

Empowerment in a Pouch shows that since nicotine pouches became available in Sweden in 2016:

• Women’s smoking rates have fallen by nearly 50% and are now among the lowest globally. 
• Women’s quit-smoking rates increased around threefold, placing Sweden on track to become the world’s first smoke-free country, defined as adult daily smoking below 5%.
• Female smoking is declining six times faster in Sweden than elsewhere in the European region, according to WHO statistics.

The report explains why nicotine pouches have been especially effective for women, a group that has historically faced greater barriers to quitting. Unlike cigarettes, pouches contain no tobacco and involve no combustion. Placed under the lip, they deliver pharmaceutical-grade nicotine without smoke, vapour or odour.

Survey data and focus group findings show women value pouches for their practicality, social acceptability and compatibility with daily life. Many cited the ability to quit smoking without disrupting work, social interactions or caregiving responsibilities.

“As the European Commission weighs changes to the Tobacco Products Directive, it must follow the evidence,” said Dr Delon Human, report co-author and former secretary-general of the World Medical Association. “Treating low-risk nicotine products as if they are cigarettes risks pushing women back to smoking, with predictable and deadly consequences.”

Participants in the research rated nicotine pouches as the most effective quitting aid, outperforming vapes and traditional nicotine replacement therapies.Other key findings include:

• Women ranked pouches almost three times higher than vapes and 56% higher than nicotine gum.
• 60% of female and 55% of male pouch users identified the variety of flavours as either their top or second most important reason for choosing nicotine pouches over tobacco snus.
• 34% of women said that, if legal restrictions meant their preferred nicotine pouches were no longer available in Sweden, they would seek them elsewhere.
• 73% of all respondents agreed that: “Women deserve access to the best approach to quitting smoking that reflects their unique needs, and nicotine pouches can be an important part of that approach.”

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