On World No Tobacco Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for urgent government action to ban all flavours in tobacco and nicotine products, including cigarettes, e-cigarettes, hookahs, and nicotine pouches, to protect youth from addiction and disease.
According to WHO, flavoured nicotine and tobacco products are inherently addictive and toxic, often more harmful than regular tobacco. Flavours increase usage, make quitting harder, and have been linked to serious lung diseases.
Despite significant progress in tobacco control, flavoured products are enticing a new generation into addiction, contributing to 8 million tobacco-related deaths annually. Nicotine products are marketed directly at young people through colourful packaging and sweet flavours like bubble gum and cotton candy, which can trigger reward centres in adolescent brains, reducing the impact of health warnings.
Research indicates that flavoured nicotine products are prominent across social media platforms, reaching a wider audience of young people. These flavours mask the harshness of tobacco, turning toxic products into “youth-friendly bait.”
WHO released several fact sheets before the observance of World No Tobacco Day, urging governments to take action and ban all flavours in tobacco and nicotine products to protect youth from lifelong addiction and disease. The agency cited the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which requires countries to regulate tobacco product contents, including flavourings.
