A phenomenon that worries more and more. In a survey published on Tuesday, the Alliance Against Tobacco warns of new consumption by 13- to 16-year-olds of “new nicotine and tobacco products.” Particularly targeted by this work are nicotine sachets and beads, increasingly proposed by manufacturers in the sector, but also snus, a variant of sachets containing tobacco, the sale of which is prohibited in France but which is easily accessible in line.
Guest on the BFMTV program this Wednesday, Alice Denoize, tobacco specialist, writer and founder of the blog Le Declic anti clope, also warns about these non-prescription products, in particular sachets, in tobacconists. “The problem is that these products come from the tobacco industry, which is not known for its transparency,” she begins. According to her, the very composition of these products poses a problem.
“We don’t know what it contains, but we know that there is between 3 and 20 mg of nicotine, while a cigarette has between 1 and 3 mg. When we give that to the brain of a teenager, which is not finished, it has an effect on the level addictive effect of a bomb.
As the president of the Anti-Tobacco Alliance, Loïc Josseran, explained to BFMTV.com on Tuesday, this addiction from a very early age is “a gateway to the traditional cigarette, it is a passage.”
In addition to the dependency it causes, the Ministry of Health points out other possible disorders related to these products: oral and pancreatic cancers, damage to the mucous membranes of the mouth, irreversible gum retraction or even palpitations and vomiting.
No desensitization logic
Another argument dismantled by Alice Denoize is the hypothesis that these new products could be an aid for smokers who want to quit. “This is the big argument: that there is no smoke or carbon monoxide,” she says.
“Frankly, I don’t think” that it is effective, he says, arguing that if the brain is flooded with nicotine, “it will excite the neurotransmitters that make you feel good, it will not be in a logic of desensitization, it will ask for more.” .”
Finally, the tobacconist also denies the theory according to which nicotine is an ally for athletes due to the excitement it can produce during physical effort. “I knew an athlete who used it, it was so addictive that she had to use nicotine patches to get rid of it,” he says.
As requested by Loïc Josseran to BFMTV.com, and as also desired by the Confederation of Tobacconists, Alice Denoize assures that it is necessary to quickly legislate to prohibit the sale of these products to minors, in the same way that tobacco is prohibited. “We wish it were a little faster,” she says.
Always with the idea of protecting minors from tobacco and its harmful effects, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne announced, last September, her desire to ban “puffs”, disposable electronic cigarettes, within the framework of a “new national plan fight against smoking”.
Source: BFM TV
