Smoking kills. The cigarette remains one of the very first causes of mortality in France, with around 59,000 deaths per year. Despite higher and higher taxes on tobacco, and awareness campaigns, There are still 14 million smokers, including 11 million for daily use in the country. Faced with smoking, some countries whose United States has adopted an alternative approach based on the promotion of nicotine, smoke-free products.
Some experts believe they have found the key to reducing tobacco misdeeds, focusing on … nicotine. “Contrary to popular belief, nicotine is in no way carcinogen” confides Dr. Karl Olov Fagerström, Swedish psychologist specializing in the fight against smoking, and inventor of the eponymous test allowing to assess nicotinic dependence, which we have interviewed from the United States.
For him, it is the consumption of nicotine by cigarettes which is dangerous. Without completely bleaching nicotine, the scientist affirms that this substance is less harmful without the combustion of tobacco. “Nicotine, present in natural state in certain foods, can cause a feeling of well-being or decrease stress. The addiction is however very real and imagining a world without nicotine would be pure heresy ”continues the professor. “Hence the importance of offering alternatives to consumers, rather than leaving the monopoly on fuel tobacco which is much more dangerous. »»
An idea from the North
The Swedish speaks knowingly: Sweden is the only country to have tobacco, now counting less than 5 % of smokers. Having converted from the 19th century to the Snus, a wet tobacco powder contained in a small filter sachet, this is where the famous nicotine pumps were born. With a scarlet whiteness, these small sachets which are placed between the lip and the gum, contain pure pharmaceutical nicotine, vegetable fibers, and artificial aromas. No tobacco therefore, and especially no combustion.
Karl Fagerström participated in the development of the first fgs. He believes that they should not contain more than 10 mg of nicotine. In Sweden, for 7 years, their consumption, associated with that of SNU, exceeds that of cigarettes. The scientist makes the link between this use and the significant drop in smoking pathologies in the country. He even believes that if France had followed a similar policy, the mortality rate, would have dropped by more than 50 %, namely 25,000 deaths per year against 59,000 today.
In the streets of Washington or those of Nashville, few cigarettes on the horizon
In American sauce
It is a similar approach that has been adopted in the United States. In the streets of Washington or those of Nashville, where we went, few cigarettes on the horizon. If they are still 30 million consumers across the Atlantic, the percentage of American smokers represents around 8.5 % of the population, against almost double in France.
JB Simko, vice-president and head of prevention within Philip Morris International (PMI), the tobacco market leader in the world, explains it largely by part by the transition to substitutes such as vape, heated tobacco, and the packers: “PMI has long been investing in innovative smoke products. In February 2024, our IQOS heated tobacco product replaced Marlboro cigarettes as a first brand in net turnover. It is a historic advance towards our objective which is to become a company which no longer sells cigarettes ”. The company also sees in the wicked an important potential business, in a world that has rightly declared cigarettes as a number 1 public health enemy.
Tolerated since 2014 in the United States, The FDA approved the sachets of the Zyn brand, owned by the group after 5 years of procedure on The toxicology of the ingredients retained, the reliability of the suppliers, the manufacturing process, the evaluation of dangers, etc.
“We have put in the risk of risks and profits”explains Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the FDA. “For all those who are unable to control their addiction to nicotine, we admitted that it was better to direct them towards much less toxic alternatives”.
In Nashville, to the sound of country music of the bar in which we meet him, Tom Price, former secretary of state for health under the first mandate Trump, supports this speech. As soon as the puckers have a level of toxicity much lower than that of cigarettes, and make it possible to decrease, or to abandon the consumption of it, the politician sees in their use a benefit in terms of public health.
A strict framework
Authorizing is one thing, regulating is another. Lowies do not escape this rule. “We want this product to be exclusively intended for adult smokers wishing to abandon cigarettes, and have no impact on youth”, Bidd Scott Gottlieb. “This is why we asked the manufacturer to restrict the number of flavors by limiting themselves to standards. Logins must remain a substitution product, in no case serve as a gateway to nicotine for the youngest ”.
This is the great concern of French antitabac associations. The National Committee against smoking (CNCT), which supports France’s prohibition request, believes that sachets, such as puffs before them, lead adolescents in nicotine dependence. It also highlights the number of poisoning linked to these products. According to the National Health Safety Agency, in 2023 and 2024, anti -poison centers have identified 90 reports of adverse effects linked to these products. More than half (54 %) concerned adolescents.
Faced with this, Philip Morris promotes the prohibition of the sale of the fgs to minors and strict regulations. “” We are committed to limiting our presence on social networks, not to call on influencers, to strengthen age verification rules, and not to distribute logotic goodies to the brand ”recall Lauren Millar, responsible for youth prevention at the industrialist. “Beyond our simple role of sellers, we have a duty to education with retailers. »»
Favorable taxation
The United States has put the package to attract smokers to the pumps, with a very advantageous pricing policy. Thus, in the “convenience stores” open 24 hours a day, between the milk bottles and the sandwiches, the prices of the boxes of Zyn are 30 % lower than those of cigarette packets. “It seems logical to tax the products in proportion to the dangers they generate”comments Leah Vukmir, vice-president of the National Taxpayers Union, taxpayer defense organization.
A lower prize that contributes to the success of the fgs in the United States. The historic Swedish Match site, owned by PMI, located in Owensboro in Kentucky, recently equipped itself with a production tool, which is supposed to meet the high demand from the domestic market, offering a capacity of 3 million ZYN boxes per day. A threshold that will soon be reached, and requires considering the construction of a second factory in Colorado.
French ban
France, for its part, has chosen the prohibition, by asking it to the European Commission. Yannick Neuder, the Minister of Health, made it one of his battle horses: ” Addictive and dangerous, these products target young people and today escape any regulation ”. Dr. Fagerström is surprised by the lack of debate: “From the point of view of public health, prohibiting these substitutes, as France is trying to do, seems to me a real nonsense”. If Swedish and Americans have arisen the question of a new policy based on the alternative, France retains its pro-sewing approach. In parallel with the government’s prohibition approach, parliamentarians from all sides, led by Senator Xavier Iacovelli, recently tabled a bill in favor of pug regulation rather than a prohibition. The fate of sachets in France remains pending, at least until the end of August, when the European Commission will return its verdict.
