WHO Urges Ban on Flavoured Tobacco and Nicotine Products

On World No Tobacco Day, WHO called on governments to urgently ban all flavours in tobacco and nicotine products, including cigarettes, hookahs, pouches, and e-cigarettes, to protect youth from addiction and disease. Flavours like menthol and bubble gum mask the harshness of these harmful products, making them more appealing to young people and harder to quit. Flavoured tobacco contributes to lung diseases and fuels addiction, threatening decades of progress in tobacco control. The WHO report highlights how flavour additives and accessories, such as capsule filters, are marketed to attract new users and evade regulations. Over 50 countries ban flavoured tobacco, and 40 ban e-cigarettes, but flavour accessories remain mostly unregulated. Countries like Belgium and Denmark are leading by example. WHO warns that tobacco products expose users to cancer-causing chemicals and calls for strict regulation to save millions of lives worldwide.

04-06-2025