Key Points:
·France’s ban covers oral nicotine products, implemented without parliamentary debate or broad consultation.
·Tobacco firms criticize the move as conflicting with EU processes, risking EU market distortion, and denying 14 million French smokers regulated alternatives, contrary to "Europe's Beating Cancer" goals.
·Philip Morris France’s president slams it as an "ostrich policy" that could fuel black markets, harm youth protection, and cut tax revenues; calls for science-based, democratic policy-making.
·Anti-smoking group Alliance Contre le Tabac praises the ban as crucial to protecting youth and countering industry "addictive market" strategies, arguing such products expand nicotine addiction rather than aid cessation.
·Firms note the U.S. and Sweden have embraced such products with positive outcomes, while France’s ban is seen as short-sighted and isolating.
2Firsts, September 8th - according to lemondedutabac and afp, France recently passed a decree prohibiting the production, import, distribution, and consumption of oral nicotine-containing products (such as nicotine pouches and gum). Implemented without parliamentary debate or multi-stakeholder consultation, the ban has drawn strong opposition from companies including British American Tobacco France and Philip Morris France.
Both companies point out that the move runs counter to ongoing discussions at the European level, risks distorting the internal EU market, and deprives 14 million adult smokers in France of access to regulated, reduced-harm alternatives, contradicting the public health goals of the "Europe's Beating Cancer" strategy. They emphasize that the United States has approved the sale of such products following scientific evaluations, and Sweden, by promoting related alternatives, has become a country with an extremely low smoking rate. France's ban, however, lacks scientific basis and ignores these successful experiences.
Xavier Piesch, President of Philip Morris France, criticized the ban as an "ostrich policy," arguing it will fuel the unregulated black market, hinder efforts to protect minors, deprive adult smokers of opportunities to quit smoking, and reduce tax revenues.
British American Tobacco France, meanwhile, called for transparent and democratic debates to formulate policies based on scientific assessments, rather than hastily implementing counterproductive bans. Additionally, businesses contend that the government's decision to bypass parliament and existing regulatory standards to enforce the ban is a short-sighted and isolated move that will leave France lagging in tobacco control efforts.
The Alliance Contre le Tabac (L'Alliance contre le tabac), a federation of anti-smoking associations, hailed the decision as a "victory."
"This is a crucial move to protect young people and combat the harmful strategies of an industry that thrives on an addictive market at the expense of public health," the group said in a statement.
"In the face of declining cigarette consumption in developed countries, nicotine pouches and new nicotine products (heated tobacco and e-cigarettes) are a new profit haven for cigarette manufacturers," the group said. For these manufacturers, "nicotine pouches and their derivatives (pellets, beads), far from being smoking cessation tools, simply serve to expand the market for nicotine addiction."
