Published on: 2026-05-29
Source: United Nations – United Nations –
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For decades, measures to combat smoking have helped save millions of lives. Today, the tobacco industry has adapted its strategies and is preparing to take revenge. This warning comes from the WHO ahead of the World No Tobacco Day, which is celebrated annually on May 31.
“Today we are standing on the threshold of a new era of addiction, fueled by industry, and measures to combat tobacco are failing to keep up with the ongoing changes,” said Dr. Ghazi Zaatari, professor and head of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of the American University of Beirut.
An expert in public health who currently heads the research group of the World Health Organization (WHO) on tobacco product regulation warns that the new wave of nicotine and nicotine-like products could fundamentally change and expand the dependency market, making it even more accessible to children and young people.
Synthetic nicotine: cheap and affordable
Over the past five years, the industry has increasingly turned to the use of synthetic nicotine and its chemical analogs, created in the laboratory. The production of such substances has become almost as cheap as obtaining nicotine from tobacco raw materials. According to the expert, this opens the way to a new generation of products that may contain almost no tobacco but at the same time cause addiction by acting on the same brain receptors as regular nicotine.”These products are created in such a way as to simplify the start of consumption, stimulate regular use, and reduce risk perception, especially among teenagers and young people,” warns Dr. Zaatari.
New dependence for new generations
The promotion of this product is increasingly built not around the tobacco itself, but around a lifestyle, technology, and social identity. Together with synthetic nicotine and its analogs, new complexities for regulation are created. Some companies present such products as “tobacco-free,” “cleaner,” “modern,” or “less harmful,” although they act on the same addiction mechanisms in the brain. At the same time, nicotine analogs are sometimes advertised as “nicotine-free” products, despite their high potential to cause addiction.
Children and adolescents remain particularly vulnerable. Since the brain continues to develop until about the age of 25, exposure to nicotine during this period can alter neural connections responsible for attention, learning, and impulse control. That is precisely why youth remain the main target of nicotine product marketing.
“Bright packaging, fruity flavors, and promotion through influencers are not just innovations, but mechanisms aimed at normalizing nicotine consumption and accelerating the formation of addiction among the younger generation,” stated Dr. Zaatari.
Necessary comprehensive laws
The expert warns that countries cannot afford to wait until the new generation of nicotine products is firmly established in the market and calls for urgent updates to tobacco control legislation, making it as comprehensive as possible.
“Without a tougher and more flexible policy, the world risks entering a new phase of the nicotine epidemic,” he noted. In many countries, existing anti-tobacco laws were not designed to regulate nicotine analogs, synthetic compounds, and hybrid products, blurring the boundaries between pharmaceutical, recreational, and tobacco products.
European WHO region: alarming trends require changes
Every year in the European region of WHO, tobacco causes the death of 1.2 million people. About 202 thousand die from exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke.
So, the region has the highest tobacco consumption rate among adults in the world and, according to forecasts, will maintain this indicator at least until 2030. Among adolescents aged 13–15, about four million use tobacco products, and another 4.2 million use electronic cigarettes. The prevalence of vaping among adolescents in the region is also the highest in the world – 14.3 percent compared to 7.2 percent in other regions.
According to the latest WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, only 18 out of 53 countries in the European region have adopted comprehensive laws that completely prohibit smoking in public places. Although more than half of the countries in the region have reached the recommended level of tobacco taxation, cigarette prices are not rising quickly enough to reduce their affordability. Moreover, in 19 countries, cigarettes have become more affordable today than in 2014, which, according to the WHO, indicates the inevitability of further tax increases.
WHO experts believe that stopping the tobacco epidemic is possible only through comprehensive and scientifically justified policy. This refers to stricter regulation of all tobacco and nicotine products, including electronic cigarettes, a complete ban on advertising and promotion, restrictions on flavor additives, increased taxes, introduction of neutral packaging, strengthening measures to protect youth, as well as expanding access to assistance for quitting nicotine.
VOZ experts urge governments to urgently strengthen regulatory measures before a new generation becomes addicted to nicotine, concealed behind the image of innovative products. After all, behind stylish packaging and attractive flavors lies the same business model – making a profit through addiction and the harm associated with it.
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