They are manufactured by a subsidiary of a tobacco company and are the first to be officially approved in the country.

A new anti-smoking tool

Last week, Health Canada approved the use and sale of certain nicotine pouches. The approved products, called ZONNIC, are manufactured by Nicoventures Trading Limited, a subsidiary of the tobacco company British American Tobacco (BAT). They are the first to be approved in the territory and are now approved as “natural health products” that can be sold as nicotine replacements. Real progress since late 2020 when Health Canada issued a public notice We advise against using these products.

In a press release (in PDF format), the tobacco company welcomed this news and the fact that its nicotine pouches offer smokers a new way to quit smoking. Frank Silva, president and CEO of Imperial Tobacco Canada, didn’t hesitate to compare them to Swedish snus, even though they don’t contain tobacco.

“Canada has a unique opportunity to achieve its goal of reducing smoking rates to below 5% by 2035. Look at Sweden to see how this is possible (…) While smoking rates in Canada have never been lower, we believe ZONNIC can reduce them even further and help Canada achieve the same results as Sweden to achieve.”he explained.

In recent months, nicotine pouches have become increasingly popular among smokers around the world. Since they do not contain tobacco, they represent a new means of quitting smoking, the harm to health of which would be far less than that of smoking (the British Department of Health says the harm is 98% less). While Canada appears to be slowly opening up to these new nicotine replacements, a European Union report released last week recommended banning them.

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