Are Zyn Nicotine Pouches Harmful to Your Health? What to Know.

Senator Chuck Schumer called this week for a crackdown on ZYN, a nicotine pouch that has become increasingly popular in the United States, alongside the rise of so-called Zynfluencers who tout the product online.

Nationwide sales of nicotine pouches, which users tuck into their upper lips, rose dramatically, with 808 million pouches sold in the first three months of 2022 alone, according to an analysis of four major brands. ZYN, which has quickly established a large footprint in the United States, accounted for the majority of sales in the analysis.

“These nicotine pouches seem to lock their sights on young kids,” Senator Schumer said, warning that products like ZYN could hook a new generation on nicotine. A 2023 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that around 1.5 percent of middle and high school students reported using nicotine pouches in the last 30 days.

ZYN says its product is only for consumers 21 and older who already use nicotine. “Our marketing practices — which prohibit the use of social media influencers — are focused on preventing underage access and set the benchmark for the industry,” a representative for Phillip Morris International, the parent of the company that manufactures ZYN, wrote in a statement.

Because ZYN and similar pouches are relatively new, their long-term health effects aren’t clear, said Minal Patel, a senior principal scientist at the American Cancer Society. The risks will largely depend on who’s using them and how often. Nicotine pouches are much less harmful than cigarettes, said Jonathan Foulds, a professor of public health sciences and psychiatry at the Penn State University College of Medicine, and so for someone who currently smokes, switching to a pouch may lower health risks.

But for people who have never used tobacco — especially teens and young adults — experts urge caution.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

---

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

---

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.