WHO chief urges clampdown on nicotine products aimed at kids

Sleek disposable e-cigarettes and candy-flavoured nicotine pouches are among a new wave of products targeting young people, fuelling nicotine addiction, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Monday. Speaking at the opening of a global tobacco control conference, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted the growing number of children being drawn to these products.

“Schools are the new frontline in the war against tobacco and nicotine, where companies are actively recruiting generations of addicts,” he said. A WHO report released last month estimated that nearly 15 million teens worldwide now use e-cigarettes. Tedros delivered his remarks at the 11th meeting of state parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

While he acknowledged the dramatic progress made in recent decades in reducing tobacco use, he noted that over eight million people still die each year from tobacco-related diseases. In the past 20 years, tobacco consumption among young people has declined by roughly one-third globally. This, he explained, has prompted tobacco companies to develop new products aimed at attracting a new generation of customers.

The UN health agency has questioned claims from the tobacco industry that vapes and other new products are safer alternatives to traditional tobacco or effective tools for quitting smoking. “There is no evidence of their net benefit for public health, and mounting evidence shows their harm,” Tedros emphasized, noting that these products are increasingly used to recruit young smokers. A recent WHO report revealed that in 63 countries with available data, adolescent vaping prevalence is on average nine times higher than among adults.

Tedros warned that the companies behind these products are driven not by public health goals but by profit. “They’re motivated by one thing and one thing only—gigantic profits for their shareholders,” he said.

The WHO chief called on all countries to regulate nicotine pouches, e-cigarettes, and heated tobacco at least as strictly as conventional tobacco products. He welcomed moves by several nations that have banned these products outright. For countries that have not, he stressed the importance of strict controls on flavours, packaging, marketing, sales, and strong protections against industry interference, including enforcement of age restrictions.

Tedros’s warning underscores the urgent need for global action to protect children and adolescents from the growing appeal of modern nicotine products, ensuring that progress made in reducing tobacco use is not undermined by a new generation of addictions.