Nikotiinipussit ovat osa sydän- ja verisuoniterveyden ratkaisua

Tällä viikolla Considerate Pouchers toimitti virallisen vastauksensa Euroopan komission pyyntöön esittää näkemyksiä tulevasta sydän- ja verisuoniterveyttä koskevasta...

Why? Because as the Commission drafts a strategy meant to reduce heart disease across Europe, there’s a growing risk that it will conflate nicotine with smoking, and list nicotine pouches (clean, smoke-free, tobacco-free) as cardiovascular risk factors.

Let’s be clear: That would be a scientific error, a public health failure, and a missed opportunity of historic proportions.

What the Science Actually Says

Our submission cuts through the confusion. Here’s what we laid out:

• Nicotine pouches are not cigarettes. They contain no tobacco, produce no smoke, and release none of the combustion chemicals, like carbon monoxide or tar, that drive cardiovascular harm.
  
• Multiple peer-reviewed studies confirm that nicotine in isolation does not cause long-term cardiovascular disease in healthy users.
  
• In fact, nicotine replacement therapies (NRT), widely used by smokers trying to quit, are regularly prescribed to patients with existing heart conditions.
  

One study (Moheimani et al., 2021) showed that nicotine administered through pouches had only transient effects on blood pressure and heart rate, with no signs of arterial stiffness or vascular inflammation. That’s a world apart from what cigarettes do to the body.

Sweden: A Case Study in Cardiovascular Harm Reduction

If Brussels wants real-world proof, it should look north.

Sweden, the only EU country with widespread access to oral nicotine, has:

• The alin daily smoking rate in the EU (5.6%)
  
• 44% lower cancer incidence than the EU average
  
• 44% vähemmän tobacco-related deaths
  
• The alin lung cancer rate in Europe (17.8 per 100,000)
  
• And yes, lower rates of heart disease and stroke than neighboring countries
  

This is not a fluke. It’s the result of pragmatic regulation, adult access to smoke-free alternatives, and a public health strategy grounded in risk reduction.

According to projections from Smoke-Free Sweden, if the rest of Europe followed the Swedish model, over 3.5 million premature deaths could be prevented in the next decade.

What the Commission Must Not Do

If the Commission labels nicotine pouches as cardiovascular risks, it will:

• Ignore scientific consensus
  
• Undermine harm reduction
  
• Push smokers away from safer alternatives
  
• And ultimately hurt the very people this plan is meant to protect
  

Our recommendations are simple:

1. Do not classify nicotine pouches as cardiovascular risk factors.
   
2. Distinguish between products that burn and those that don’t.
   
3. Protect adult access to affordable, flavored, smoke-free options.
   
4. Use tax and regulation proportionately.
   
5. Communicate facts, not unfunded fear.

Our Message to Brussels

This plan could save lives,  but only if it’s rooted in evidence.

We urge the Commission to recognize nicotine pouches for what they are: a cleaner, less harmful, science-backed alternative for adults who want to quit smoking.

Not a threat.

A solution.

Read our full submission tässä