Exclusive | NY legislator proposes ban on flavored nicotine pouches including Zyn, despite FDA backing

A state legislator is moving to outlaw the sale of flavored nicotine pouches, despite the federal Food and Drug Administration’s endorsement of the product’s potential health benefits in helping smokers cut back or quit cancer-causing cigarettes.But replacing tobacco-laced cigarettes with “highly addictive” nicotine pouches is not the answer, said Sen.Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who is pushing to ban the flavored pouches to keep them away from impressionable young kids.“This product is distinguishable from other smokeless tobacco products because they do not contain tobacco leaf, rather contain nicotine derived from tobacco or synthetic nicotine,” Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan) acknowledged in his bill memo.“Regardless, nicotine in any form and in any product is a highly addictive substance.

This legislation would align New York values in prohibiting enticing flavors for all nicotine products — including nicotine pouches,” he said.Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) is introducing a companion bill to ban nicotine pouches in the other chamber.The FDA in January approved 10 flavors of the Zyn brand of nicotine pouches manufactured by Philip Morris International — including coffee, mint and menthol.It was the first time regulators authorized sales of nicotine pouches, which are the fastest-growing sector of the US tobacco market.Nicotine pouches, which are held in the mouth and dissolved between the tongue and gum, are also becoming more popular among youths, according to a Post survey of nearly a dozen local high school students about what substances they are — and aren’t — using.Zyn is the brand of choice, students told The Post.An annual federal survey, based on responses from 24,000 students in grades 8, 10 and 12 across the country, found that the amount of 12th graders using Zyn and other pouches increased from just 3% in 2023 to 6% last year.That’s exactly what Hoylman-Siegal is trying to stop — youths from getting addicted to nicoti...