The Dutch government has announced plans to ban the sale of all types of nicotine pouches in the Netherlands while extending tobacco regulations to all other types of tobacco-free nicotine products, reports Reuters.

The government said the ban would ease compliance for nicotine pouches, which are currently only allowed if they contain less than 0.035 g of nicotine. The new rules will also ban the use of nicotine pouches and other tobacco-free nicotine products in places where smoking is not allowed.
The government said it will also stop advertising tobacco-free nicotine products, a segment considered very important for tobacco companies as they seek to move away from harmful cigarettes and eventually become smoke-free.
“The tobacco industry keeps launching new products that make it easy for young people to come into contact with nicotine,” health deputy minister Maarten van Ooijen said in a statement. “This is bad, because nicotine is addictive and harmful. That’s why I’m glad we will now treat these products the same as tobacco products,” he was quoted as saying.