The Facts About Zyn –the Nicotine Pouches Taking Over Your Social Media Feed
4 Minute Read
From flavored e-cigarettes to “tobacco-free” nicotine, the tobacco industry is constantly reinventing tobacco and finding new ways to entice young people to use its products.
The latest so-called innovation? Nicotine pouches like Zyn, the stylish successor to smokeless tobacco products like snus.
Zyn is the top-selling brand of nicotine pouches that contain small bundles of nicotine and other ingredients that were introduced to the American market in 2019. Pouches are placed between a user’s lip and gum, slowly releasing nicotine into the bloodstream. Like e-cigarettes, Zyn comes in flavors including cinnamon, citrus, coffee, and “cool mint.”
Nicotine pouches do not emit any smell, smoke, or vapor, making it difficult for parents and caregivers to know if a child is using them. Plus, unlike some other smokeless tobacco products, pouches don’t require spitting out loose tobacco, making them easier to hide from adults. Educators have noticed a rise in students using nicotine pouches at school, and teens have attested to the product’s popularity among their peers.
Zyn is not the only brand offering nicotine pouches, but it is currently the best-selling – it’s cultivated a powerful following on social media. It’s especially popular on TikTok, where young users – a quarter of TikTok users are under age 20 – are bombarded with videos from “Zynfluencers” painting the product as cool, attractive, and no big deal.
The brand’s online presence, appealing flavors, and discreet usage have led to a worrying explosion in popularity among kids and teenagers.
The New York Times shared reports from students that nicotine pouches have grown exponentially among their friends, with one high school senior conducting an informal poll and finding that more than a fifth of his peers were using these products in class.
“Tobacco-free” nicotine and nicotine pouches are relatively new, compared to tobacco products, and have not yet been researched extensively. However, the negative effects of nicotine on the developing brain are well-known.
Research suggests that nicotine use in childhood and adolescence can alter brain development, increase stress, and amplify feelings of depression and anxiety. Plus, the younger a person is when they first try nicotine, the more likely they are to become addicted. This means smokeless and tobacco-free nicotine products like Zyn are not harmless to young users.
On April 4, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration took action to help keep nicotine pouches out of children’s hands. The FDA issued more than one hundred warning letters and filed more than forty civil money penalty complaints to retailers for selling Zyn products to underage users.
The agency also noted that it has not approved Zyn products for sale, making it unlawful to market them in the US.
“FDA remains concerned about any tobacco product that may be appealing to youth and we will continue to closely monitor youth use of these products. There is no excuse for selling tobacco products to any underage person,” said Brian King, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products.
From e-cigarettes to flavor cards to nicotine pouches, trying to keep up with the tobacco and nicotine market can feel like an endless game of “Whack-A-Mole.” Child-serving professionals hoping to prevent youth from using these products face a difficult challenge.
VFHY is proud to offer nicotine use prevention lessons, a free resource to educate K-12 students about nicotine products. Developed with the support of public school teachers and Virginia Commonwealth University, these lessons can be used in classrooms, after-school programs, camps, and more.
Download the youth nicotine use prevention lessons for free: https://www.vfhy.org/prevention-lessons/
This blog was originally published on February 22, 2024 and last updated on April 9, 2024.
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