No Tobacco Day: WHO calls for global ban on flavoured tobacco, nicotine products

ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan battles rising youth nicotine addiction and 164,000 annual tobacco-related deaths, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on all governments—including Islamabad—to urgently ban flavoured tobacco and nicotine products that continue to lure new users through deceptive marketing and candy-like appeal.

Marking World No Tobacco Day 2025, the WHO has launched a global call to action urging governments to ban all flavoured tobacco and nicotine products—including cigarettes, hookahs, pouches, and e-cigarettes—to protect young people from addiction and serious health risks.

In a new publication titled “Flavour accessories in tobacco products enhance attractiveness and appeal”, the WHO exposed how flavours like menthol, cotton candy, and bubble gum—often paired with flashy packaging and click-on capsules—are being used by the tobacco industry to mask the harshness of nicotine and hook young users under the guise of innovation.

“Flavours are fuelling a new wave of addiction and should be banned,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “They undermine decades of progress in tobacco control. Without bold action, the global tobacco epidemic, already killing around 8 million people each year, will continue to be driven by addiction dressed up with appealing flavours.”

Pakistan faces its own urgent challenges. According to WHO data, tobacco use kills an estimated 164,000 people annually in the country and inflicts an economic burden exceeding Rs700 billion. Flavoured products such as nicotine pouches, vapes, and menthol cigarettes are gaining popularity among youth, often promoted through social media and misleading marketing that downplays their harm.

Dr Rüdiger Krech, WHO Director of Health Promotion, warned: “We are watching a generation get hooked on nicotine through gummy bear-flavoured pouches and rainbow-coloured vapes. This isn’t innovation, it’s manipulation—and we must stop it.”

The WHO report highlights how flavour accessories—like capsule filters and add-on drops—are slipping through regulatory loopholes even in countries that have banned flavoured tobacco. While more than 50 countries have outlawed flavoured tobacco and over 40 have banned e-cigarettes or their flavours, flavour accessories remain largely unregulated.

Countries like Belgium, Denmark, and Lithuania have begun cracking down on such products. The WHO now calls on other nations to urgently follow suit, particularly those with high youth tobacco initiation rates.

In Pakistan, public health experts and civil society groups have long demanded regulation of emerging nicotine products, especially e-cigarettes and disposable vapes, which remain readily available in urban markets despite health warnings. A 2024 survey found that 68 per cent of student users had experimented with e-cigarettes—most citing flavours as their reason for starting.

The 2025 World No Tobacco Day campaign honours the efforts of governments, youth advocates, and civil society leaders resisting industry tactics and pushing for stronger tobacco control laws.

WHO reiterated that all tobacco products—including heated tobacco—should be strictly regulated as they expose users to cancer-causing chemicals.