The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) has withdrawn approximately 100,000 nicotine pouches (also known as snus) from the market from November 2021 to September last year. The regulator reports this on Thursday.
The sale of snus is prohibited if the bags contain 0.035 milligrams or more of nicotine. The NVWA says it found the bags during checks at importers and wholesalers. The regulator found the majority of these at four companies.
The NVWA also checked web shops and social media. Young people often buy the bags online. After the inspections, nine websites from the Netherlands and six foreign sites stopped selling snus to the Dutch.
Last year, “a large social media platform” also removed two hundred Dutch accounts on behalf of the NVWA. Snus was offered through those accounts.
Unlike cigarettes, you don’t light snus. The bags are placed under the upper lip and then release nicotine.
The NVWA warns that the use of nicotine pouches entails serious health risks. These include damage to the nervous system and cardiac arrhythmias. “It is therefore crucial that companies selling snus comply with the law,” the NVWA writes.
