Kenya Relaxes Pouch Health Warnings

The Kenyan government has relaxed nicotine pouch health warning requirements following BAT’s statement that it would pull investment from a new factory in the country’s capital, according to The Guardian.

The government agreed to let BAT sell Velo nicotine pouches with significantly smaller health warnings and without mentioning the presence of potentially cancer-causing toxicants, according to letters between BAT and the Ministry of Health, which were obtained by Examination, an investigative news outlet. The ministry agreed to let BAT sell Velo with a small warning stating, “This product contains nicotine and is addictive.”

Current regulations in the country state that labels must cover one-third of the package and include information about health hazards.

Kenya is one of BAT’s key “test markets” in low-income and middle-income countries, according to company financial presentations. The company plans to make Kenya its base of operations for a rollout of Velo across southern and eastern Africa.

In 2021, BAT requested its product be allowed to be sold with a warning label covering 10 percent of the packaging. In a letter, Crispin Achola, BAT Kenya’s managing director, told Mutahi Kagwe, the cabinet health secretary, “our resumption of factory operations and the sale of Lyft [Velo’s previous name] in Kenya hinges on the provision of appropriate text health warnings.”

“Your positive consideration of this request will allow us to operationalize our factory,” the letter said.

In response, the Ministry of Health agreed to allow a warning label covering 15 percent of the front of the package.

Velo is the only nicotine pouch legally available in Kenya, though other brands are smuggled in illegally.