Estonia’s proposed nicotine pouch cap will trap more smokers with deadly cigarettes
International health experts have warned Estonia’s lawmakers that proposed restrictions on oral nicotine pouches would trap smokers with deadly cigarettes by making safer alternatives too weak to help them switch.
A plan to impose a nicotine cap of just 4 mg/g in Estonia would leave regulated nicotine pouches containing only 2-4 mg of nicotine each. That is five to 10 times lower than limits adopted or recommended by leading international standards bodies.
In a submission to Estonia’s public consultation on proposed amendments to the Tobacco Act and State Fees Act, Smoke Free Sweden says the excessively restrictive rules would undermine one of the country’s best opportunities to reduce smoking-related disease.
Dr Delon Human, leader of Smoke Free Sweden, said: “Regulation only works if the products remain effective enough to replace cigarettes. A nicotine pouch that cannot satisfy a smoker is unlikely to replace smoking.
“The scientific evidence shows that heavy smokers need products that deliver enough nicotine to compete with cigarettes. If Estonia sets the limit too low, many smokers will simply stick with smoking or turn to the unregulated market.”
Sweden’s embrace of safer smokeless nicotine products has powered its progress towards official smoke-free status. It now has the lowest rates of tobacco-related disease, with male lung cancer deaths 61% below the EU average.
In Estonia, stringent regulations on smoking alternatives, including bans on vape flavours, have already resulted in a dramatic increase in smoking rates. Since 2020, Estonia has seen a staggering 40% rise in smoking rates, a sharp reversal of earlier progress. Its smoking rate is now more than four times higher than Sweden’s.
Its latest proposals for pouches bear little resemblance to international practice. Sweden’s national standard and the British Standards Institution both allow up to 20 mg per pouch, while Germany’s Federal Institute for Risk Assessment recommends a ceiling of 16.7 mg per pouch. By contrast, Estonia’s proposal would leave regulated products far below the level needed by many smokers seeking to quit cigarettes.
Smoke Free Sweden also urged Estonia to reconsider proposals restricting pouch flavours to tobacco and menthol. Flavours play an important role in helping adult smokers move away from combustible cigarettes.
Dr Human, a former secretary-general of the World Medical Association, said: “Every country wants fewer smokers. Sweden has shown how to achieve that goal. Instead of making safer products less attractive than cigarettes, lawmakers should regulate them responsibly, keep them accessible to adults and give smokers a realistic alternative that can save lives.”
The SFS submission calls on Estonia to raise the nicotine limit to internationally recognised levels, allow a wider range of regulated flavours and adopt a risk-proportionate regulatory framework that reflects the much lower health risks of smoke-free nicotine products compared with combustible tobacco.
Photo: Courtesy of Creative Commons
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