A vaping company labelled proposed regulation for the sector as “draconian, excessive and unnecessary” at the same time as the tobacco industry was calling for tighter rules on nicotine pouches.
Corporate lobbying documents released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that two of the largest tobacco companies in the world called on the Irish government to regulate nicotine pouches and to add age restrictions to the product.
Japan Tobacco International (JTI), the company behind Nordic Spirit-branded nicotine pouches, wrote to then minister for health Stephen Donnelly in May last year, calling for the product to be “robustly regulated”.
“Nicotine pouches should not be sold to individuals under 18 years of age,” the company said, recommending against packaging that would target children and calling for the addition of a health warning of nicotine content and a strength indicator.
Shortly after, in a separate communication, a representative for JTI said there had been “an influx of disposable e-vapour products” into Ireland with “packaging and flavour descriptors that appealed particularly to young people”. It noted that youth uptake of the products had “increased significantly” due to the lack of regulation in marketing.
JTI Ireland said it would like to “avoid a similar situation with the nicotine pouch category”.
In August 2024 British American Tobacco (BAT) also wrote to Mr Donnelly to raise “concerns regarding the sale and retail of high strength nicotine pouches” in Ireland and calling for regulation on these products.
BAT, which sells these products under the Velo brand, said it was “concerned” by reports of pouches with “concentrations of nicotine as high as 50mg, 75mg and even 150mg”, which it said could be acutely toxic in the highest of these doses.
The company called for the implementation of a maximum nicotine limit of 20mg, as well as further regulation regarding the packaging of these products.
BAT said with “appropriate regulation” nicotine pouches would be an alternative to smoking for adults “without the risk of products being retailed that are misleading, potentially appealing to underage or which contain excessively high levels of nicotine”.
A representative for the minister acknowledged the letter but said it would not meet the company citing an article of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control under which they must “act to protect [the convention’s] policies from commercial and other vested interests”.
The company reiterated its concerns to the Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill in January 2025 after she had been appointed to the role, saying there is a “clear need to act now and regulate nicotine pouches and introduce requirements to prevent the sale of these products to under 18s”.
Separately, one of Ireland largest vaping product retailers labelled measures outlined by Mr Donnelly to regulate the vaping products as “draconian, excessive and unnecessary”.
In an email to Mr Donnelly in August 2024 the director of retailer and manufacturer Hale Vaping, Joe Dunne, said, “your objective appears to be to apply the same – or even greater – regulation to a category of products” that he claimed “are significantly less harmful than cigarettes” and offers a “gateway for thousands of Irish smokers out of smoking”.
The company’s director said “recent and existing regulations are not being enforced” and said the inspections of retail premises are “almost non-existent”.
Mr Dunne suggested the government implement a deposit and return scheme for disposable vaping devices, among a series of policy suggestions.
Earlier in 2024, as part of the public consultation period on the Further Regulation of Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products, Mr Dunne said: “It is hard to think of a more draconian or retrograde policy decision from a public health perspective” than raising the price of vaping products.
