New research further reinforces reduced-risk potential of oral nicotine pouches as compared to traditional tobacco products

The findings of the multi-year, three-phase programme are the latest in a wide range of studies into oral nicotine products, helping to increase the breadth of data available and provide insights into the real-world health impact of oral nicotine pouches.

Widespread adoption of snus and oral nicotine products has helped countries like Sweden reduce smoking prevalence rates from 16.5% in 2004 to 5.8% today. This is by far the lowest in the EU and one of the lowest in the world.

Elaine Round, Group Head of Life Sciences at BAT, said: “If we are serious about building A Smokeless World, we need to ensure we continue to develop cutting-edge scientific evidence to demonstrate the reduced-risk potential of the products we sell.

This study is another important milestone for the oral nicotine category: based on the wealth of data available to support our belief, lower-risk products can play an important role in providing smokers with a satisfying, complete alternative to ongoing smoking.

In particular, the findings that the addition of particular flavours and a range of nicotine strengths did not increase measures of cytotoxicity are particularly encouraging given the important role these product attributes can play in offering adult smokers satisfactory alternatives.”

About the science behind nicotine pouches  

Oral nicotine products are widely studied, and we believe they offer reduced risk, as toxicant levels are lower than in snus – a traditional oral tobacco product that is already regarded as a reduced risk alternative to smoking, based on over 30 years of epidemiological studies.

Laboratory chemical studies of our oral nicotine pouch products show they produce substantially lower levels of toxicants than do traditional cigarettes. Toxicology tests assessing the biological effects of our nicotine pouch products on laboratory cells also show they have reduced effects relative to cigarettes and snus.

Moreover, in 2021, we published peer-reviewed evidence that suggests oral tobacco-free nicotine pouches have a toxicant profile that is comparable to nicotine replacement therapy products (NRT). The studied pouches were also found to have a toxicant profile that is far lower than snus. On the basis of our scientific research and informed by the wealth of independent evidence regarding snus, switching completely to the studied oral nicotine pouch products can be expected to reduce the relative risks of developing smoking related disease as compared to continued smoking.

1. The Public Health Agency of Sweden, Use of tobacco and nicotine products (self-reported) by age, gender and year, 2022.
2. Bishop E, East N, Bozhilova S, Santopietro S, Smart D, Taylor M, Meredith S, Baxter A, Breheny D, Thorne D, Gaca M, An approach for the extract generation and toxicological assessment of tobacco-free ‘modern’ oral nicotine pouches, Food and Chemical Toxicology, Volume 145, 2020, 111713, ISSN 0278-6915, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2020.111713.
3. N. East, E. Bishop, D. Breheny, M. Gaca, D. Thorne, A screening approach for the evaluation of tobacco-free ‘modern oral’ nicotine products using Real Time Cell Analysis, Toxicology Reports, Volume 8, 2021, Pages 481-488, ISSN 2214-7500, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxrep.2021.02.014.
4. Fan Yu, Emma Bishop, Fabio Miazzi, Rhian Evans, David Smart, Damien Breheny, David Thorne, Multi-endpoint in vitro toxicological assessment of snus and tobacco-free nicotine pouch extracts, Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis, Volume 895, 2024, 503738, ISSN 1383-5718, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mrgentox.2024.503738.
5. Azzopardi, David, Chuan Liu, and James Murphy. “Chemical characterization of tobacco-free “modern” oral nicotine pouches and their position on the toxicant and risk continuums.” Drug and chemical toxicology 45, no. 5 (2022): 2246-2254. https://doi.org/10.1080/01480545.2021.1925691

* Reduced-risk product statements are based on the weight of evidence and assuming a complete switch from cigarette smoking. These products are not risk-free and are addictive.

BAT’s products as sold in the U.S., including Vuse, Velo, Grizzly, Kodiak, and Camel Snus, are subject to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation and no reduced-risk claims will be made as to these products without FDA clearance.

This article is not intended as promotional material for any products, very notably in the US where claims of a certain type are subject to FDA clearance. This update relates to scientific data and is not aimed at any specific markets. It is intended to provide information and summarise published scientific data relevant to our products.