European health organisations are backing the German Medical Association’s call for the German government to maintain the ban on the sale of nicotine pouches, warning that legalising these highly addictive products would undermine public health and run counter to the direction of nicotine regulation across Europe.

“We cannot afford to trade public health for revenue and repeat the mistakes of the past by allowing commercial interests to shape the environment in which a new generation becomes addicted to nicotine. The short-term revenue gained today cannot justify the long-term cost of creating a generation living with nicotine addiction and its consequences. Young people deserve the opportunity to grow up free from nicotine addiction, not surrounded by an ever-expanding range of increasingly normalised and heavily marketed nicotine products,” said Erin Roman, Director of the Smoke Free Partnership.

Germany should maintain its ban on nicotine pouches and put public health ahead of fiscal and commercial interests. As EU Member States prepare to revise the EU’s tobacco and nicotine rules, Berlin should support strong and coherent European action rather than risk undermining it. By taking decisive action now, Germany would set a positive precedent for the upcoming revision of the EU’s tobacco and nicotine framework and demonstrate that protecting public health must remain the priority.

Read the full press release below.