The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday cleared Philip Morris-owned Zyn nicotine pouches to be marketed as less harmful than cigarettes, giving the tobacco giant a major regulatory win as the Trump administration loosens restrictions on nicotine products.
The decision, first reported by Axios, allows 20 Zyn products to carry a modified-risk claim saying that switching from cigarettes to Zyn lowers the risk of mouth cancer, heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Zyn pouches contain nicotine but not tobacco. They are placed between a user’s gum and lip and have surged in popularity among conservatives, tech workers and others who promote them as a cleaner alternative to cigarettes and chewing tobacco or a productivity aid.
Saying “a tobacco-free pouch that you suck on is safer than a cigarette” sounds the same as saying “a filtered cigarette is safer than an unfiltered cigarette?” I don’t understand how you can make that claim. The big danger from smoking is the smoke itself with all the chemical reactions occurring when you burn plant matter and inhale it.
These products (nor vapes) don’t share a single similarity to cigarettes apart from them containing nicotine, and if that’s the metric we’re using, we can also say tomatoes are just as deadly since they too contain nicotine.
If it were the burning then dip/chew wouldn’t be a cause for mouth and throat cancer. The 1.5-6 mgs in a zyn vs the 1mg/100kg of tomato is a very different dosage. Nicotine alone can be cytotoxic and promote EMT both factors that can indicate cancer risk.
Flavoring problems arent really a reach considering some have induced severe and deadly responses in people who vape.
Dip/chew is also made from the same tobacco as cigarettes. Zyns aren’t made with tobacco.
Also the rate of oral cancer from smokeless tobacco is already significantly lower than than it is for smokers.
https://cancer.jmir.org/2024/1/e51936/