FDA authorized Zyn nicotine pouches without knowing what they were made of

https://www.statnews.com/2026/07/14/zyn-nicotine-pouches-fda-approval-microplastic-risk/

by EA-3167 • 8 days ago

46 23 8 days ago

Don’t many medications and medical devices contain microplastics either on purpose (fillers) or un-avoidable (plasticizers in IV tubing). Unless the FDA has an existing microplastics policy, it would be weird to inconsistently apply it.

Lots of dental stuff like Invisalign or even regular braces involve keeping plastic and adhesives in the mouth for long periods of time. I think even some gum (non-nicotine or otherwise) contain plastics technically.

vablings5• 8 days ago

This whole issue around microplastics has just become another grift for the health and wellness industry. The supplements industry is worth over $150B dollars.

The main contributor to microplastic ingestion is in the water you drink, this water is contaminated with either parts of your car tire or the synthetic clothes you wear

estearum6• 8 days ago

What does the second line have to do with the first?

Anyone I know who is concerned about microplastics is worried about food packaging, water contamination, and clothing.

amanaplanacanal• 8 days ago

Under sink reverse osmosis filter for the win.

Yokolos• 8 days ago

Are you suggesting that all the scientists studying microplastics and papers about microplastics are just grifting for the health and wellness industry?

Also, are you suggesting that a pharma company like Philip Morris, with a yearly revenue of $40 billion, part of the TRILLION dollar pharma industry, is somehow less influential than the health and wellness industry?

There's a grift alright, and it's not some former FDA scientist selling it.

EA-31672• 8 days ago

Critically nicotine pouches are a recreational drug rather than a medication or medical device. If you're exposed to microplastics from your dialysis then that's just a tradeoff to remain above the ground. Most people using Zyn never smoked, it isn't a lifesaving or even improving measure, it's just big tobacco doing what big tobacco does.

abeppu• 8 days ago

I think this is silly. This is a product designed to deliver nicotine, and that's going to continue to be the important part for health considerations. Had the FDA become concerned about the pouch material, and a different pouch material had been swapped in, it would still be a product designed to deliver nicotine.

If it's used in a way that gets people away from smoking, maybe it can have an impact of decreased cancer risk. If used by people who weren't going to smoke, then maybe the impacts to blood pressure, heart rate, and heart disease risk are going to dominate.

The "maybe you accumulate more microplastics" impact is a rounding error.

cwmoore• 8 days ago

There are advertisements from the 1950s for asbestos-filtered cigarettes. How many of those cancer cases are you counting against nicotine?

EA-31672• 8 days ago

That's been the pitch from "harm reduction" activists who didn't bother to check on the reality, and the pitch from Phillip Morris.

The reality is that products like Zyn are most popular in a young demographic that's not only NOT using it to quit smoking, it's actually just a supplement to their smoking. In many cases Zyn and Vaping lead to smoking, not the other way around.

Finally lets remember that safer means of delivering nicotine to the system exist, they simply aren't addictive, marketable, or profitable.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10203764/

OkayPhysicist• 6 days ago

"Vapes leading to smoking" headlines are always WILDLY misleading. If you look at the surveys they use to create those responses, they always include exceptionally low-frequency cigarette use. (think, "have you smoked a cigarette in the last month"). This captures habitual vapers who, once in a while, can't get a hold of vape juice, and buy a pack of cigarettes.

Like, maybe my vape runs out of battery while I'm out for a night of clubbing with my friends. Nicotine and alcohol get along like a house on fire, and I've got a bit of a habit, so I pop into a gas station. They're not selling vapes, they're selling cigarettes. So I buy a pack of cigarettes, smoke a couple, and probably end up ditching the pack once I get a hold of a charger because vapes are better in every way.

I'm in an age bracket where a lot of people picked up a nicotine habit in college, and literally zero of couple dozen users I know stopped vaping and started smoking cigarettes. Vaping's cheaper, more comfortable (no burning your throat), safer (not to be confused with "healthy"), and doesn't make you stink. And the single biggest reason nobody switches from habitual vaping to habitual smoking is that smoking provides less nicotine. You need to be slurping down cigarettes to get a similar hit.

burnt-resistor• 8 days ago

The US approves and allows many things haphazardly because there's a lack of regulatory consistency, integrity, enforcement, and application of the precautionary principle. This plays Russian roulette with the public in the name of money.

FDA authorized Zyn nicotine pouches without knowing what they were made of

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