Canadian Health Minister Mark Holland announced that the health department will address “loopholes” surrounding Zonnic, a flavored nicotine pouch product from Imperial Tobacco Canada, reports the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Health Canada previously approved the sale of Zonnic without any advertising or sales method restrictions.
According to Holland, “the behavior and intentions of the tobacco industry have raised serious concerns as they appear to want to addict new young people to nicotine, which is appalling, and we want to address this issue.”
In November, six national health organizations called on the government to immediately regulate the advertising and sale of flavored nicotine products; Zonnic is not included in any existing federal or provincial tobacco or e-cigarette legislation as it does not contain tobacco, contains less than 4 mg of nicotine and is not inhaled.
Holland reportedly takes responsibility for the oversight and plans to review the approval process for nicotine products.
Imperial Tobacco Canada must conduct annual self-reports and “identify any appeal or abuse of their products among young people,” Health Canada stated.
“Marketing targeted at young people will be considered deceptive advertising and may trigger post-listing compliance action,” the Canadian Ministry of Health stated. Decisions regarding product sales locations and age restrictions are determined by individual provinces and territories, according to Health Canada.
In response to earlier criticism, Imperial Tobacco Canada said that it has already taken measures to prevent youth access to its products.