Figures that worry and challenge. In its survey “Perception and uses of Puff among young people aged 13 to 16”, published this Tuesday, November 14 in collaboration with BVA France, the Alliance against Tobacco addresses the increase in “new nicotine and tobacco products” among 13 to 16 years.
Among them, nicotine beads and sachets, increasingly promoted by manufacturers in the sector. Yeah Puff has already become a public health issue. Among the youngest, this study illustrates the knowledge that adolescents have about these new products.
21% have already heard of nicotine beads, 19% of nicotine sachets, also called “pouches”, and 18% of snus, nicotine pouches that, unlike the other two, contain tobacco.
Its sale has been prohibited in the European Union since 1992, but authorized in Sweden and Norway.
Worse still, among adolescents who claim to know these products, 11%, that is, 1 in 10 young people between 13 and 16 years old, admit to having already tried nicotine pearls. Furthermore, 9% have tried sachets and 7% have tried snus, despite the impossibility of finding it commercially in France. However, with just a few clicks, it is more than easy to shop online.
High concentration of nicotine.
There are many concerns about these new products. As indicated by the Ministry of Health, snus, taken orally, contains between 3 and 20 mg of nicotine, while a normal cigarette only contains between 1 and 2 mg. Interviewed by BFMTV.com, Loïc Josseran, president of the Alliance Against Tobacco, explains why this concentration of nicotine is problematic.
“We fit it between the gum and the lip, and when you rub the product it is ingested through the gum. The mouth has the peculiarity of being vascularized, and the nicotine passes quickly to the brain,” he says.
Furthermore, Le Parisien highlights in an article dedicated to the phenomenon that manufacturers adorn these products, particularly pearls, with different perfumes to attract a young audience, as was already the case with Puffs. “They are very recreational, they seem nice, they are distracting, but they are catastrophic,” adds Loïc Josseran, referring to the bags and pearls that are legal in France.
“We are trying to influence the youngest people as much as possible, it is a gateway to traditional cigarettes, it is a transition,” the latter denounces again.
On social networks, in videos that have hundreds of thousands of views, young people also talk about the effects that the small sachet produces and explain how to obtain it and how to consume it.
Call to legislate
According to the Ministry of Health, snus, in addition to the dependency it causes, can also be responsible for various pathologies of the oral and digestive system: oral and pancreatic cancers, lesions of the mucous membranes of the mouth, irreversible gum retraction or even palpitations and vomiting.
Regarding the gums, Loïc Josseran details: “it rubs on the gums, it is very abrasive.”
Faced with this situation, the Alliance Against Tobacco asks the executive to react as quickly as possible and legislate against this scourge.
“Every month, every lost quarter, it is the young people who become dependent. Political courage is needed to get the industrialists out of the game,” concludes the professor.
Source: BFM TV
