According to the 2023 California Youth Tobacco Survey, most high school respondents who used tobacco reported using flavored tobacco products, and nicotine pouches were the second-most common form of tobacco use among eighth-graders. Experts say the proliferation of flavored tobacco products, which are more attractive to young people, has threatened decades of progress in reducing youth tobacco use. Zyn, a Swedish brand of nicotine pouches that has dominated the market, has been around for a decade and was initially marketed to help users kick smoking habits. Though the pouches don’t contain cancer-causing tobacco, nicotine is addictive, and experts have raised alarm bells about the consequences of nicotine exposure to developing adolescent brains. The San Francisco settlement was announced the day after California unveiled a list of tobacco products that can be legally sold in the state, following a statewide flavored tobacco ban in 2020 that voters upheld in a 2022 referendum.

Source: The Guardian January 09, 2026 04:15 UTC