Young people being targeted for the sale of nicotine pouches, meeting hears

By Philip Rooney, The Sligo Champion

What were once designed to help adults stop smoking are now being aimed at a much younger audience, Sligo County Council heard at the October monthly meeting with calls made for Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll McNeill to “Take a proactive approach and ban the sale of unregulated nicotine pouches which are harming the health of our teenagers.”

Giving some background to her motion, Cllr Ann Higgins said that only 2% of Irish teenagers smoke because they have been priced out of the market.

In the wake of a call from the Irish Heart Foundation to ban the sale of nicotine pouches due to “increased risk of cardiovascular and respiratory disorders”, Cllr Higgins said the pouches were originally designed to help adults give up smoking but now young people are the target audience.

Cllr Higgins said, “Nicotine is a harmful product,” adding she was “amazed and concerned by what is available online.”

Noting that nicotine pouches have been banned in France and Netherlands, Cllr Higgins said, “Let’s follow their example or we will see more damage done to our teenagers.”

Cllr Marie Casserly echoed those sentiments saying, “The Minister must act to ban sales.”

Cllr Edel McSharry praised Cllr Higgins for raising the motion saying, “We started in the 1960s to realise that smoking and nicotine is dangerous. This is an excellent motion, thank you Cllr Higgins for bringing it up.”