Nicotine pouches, snus a real risk of addiction for young people

Nicotine pouches, snus a real risk of addiction for young people

In Scandinavian countries, they are called Snus. It’s not new. These are small sachets filled with nicotine and tobacco that are wedged between the gum and the teeth. It’s discreet and it releases a large dose of nicotine (up to the equivalent of 25 cigarettes) with a relaxing and well-being effect. Like cigarettes, it causes addiction and tobacco-related cancers.

This kind of product is illegal in our country. cancers worldwide are attributable to a given risk factor, primarily tobacco and alcohol, concludes a gigantic study published Friday, emphasizing the importance of preventive measures without making them a panacea.

According to our analysis, 44.4% of cancer deaths worldwide attributable to a risk factor that has been measured, says this study, published in the Lancet and carried out as part of the Global Burden of Disease. This vast research program is of unparalleled scope, involving several thousand researchers in most countries of the world.

 

Tobacco in mind

This work therefore makes it possible to know more in detail the risk factors according to the regions of the world even if, on the whole, its conclusions confirm what was already known: tobacco is by far the main element having favored cancer (33, 9%), followed by alcohol (7.4%).

Above all, these conclusions argue for giving a great deal of importance to prevention in public health, since many of these risk factors relate to behaviors that can be changed or avoided.

 

Prevention is not enough

However, a good half of cancers are not attributable to a given risk factor, which shows that prevention is not enough. This, according to the authors, must therefore be accompanied by two other pillars: a sufficiently early diagnosis and effective treatments.

In an independent commentary, published in the same edition of The Lancet, two epidemiologists supported these conclusions, also believing that the study underlines the importance of prevention.

A tobacco-free but dangerous snus

The industry circumvented this illegality by manufacturing a Snus without tobacco, a nicotine pouche. In other words, the risk of tobacco-related cancer is avoided. For a smoker, it’s a way to do without tobacco by lowering the cancer risk factor, explains Adrien Munier, tobacco specialist at the Citadelle.

On the other hand, the tabacologists of La Citadelle are sounding the alarm because these “nicotine pouches are on free sale can find them in night shops, at 5 or 6 euros, in colored boxes with tastes like cola, strawberry, piñacolada What is the target audience? Young people? The question is asked by tobacco specialists because the risk for young people is very real. The younger a person consumes nicotine, the greater the risk of addiction, and the greater the risk of development in the brain adds Adrien Meunier. For these experts in any case, this new product is an open door to smoking for young people.