THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on governments around the world to urgently ban all flavoured tobacco and nicotine products, including cigarettes, pouches, hookahs, and e-cigarettes, to protect young people from addiction and disease.
The WHO made the call on Friday, May 30, in a statement marking World No Tobacco Day 2025, where the global health body warned that flavours like menthol, bubble gum, and cotton candy “turn harmful nicotine products into ‘youth-friendly bait and masking their toxicity.”
The WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the increasing use of flavours fueled a new wave of addiction and undermining decades of progress in tobacco control.
“They undermine decades of progress in tobacco control. Without bold action, the global tobacco epidemic, already killing around eight million people each year, will continue to be driven by addiction dressed up with appealing flavours,” Ghebreyesus said.
The statement further noted that the organisation’s new publication, “Flavour accessories in tobacco products enhance attractiveness and appeal,” revealed how flavours and accessories like capsule filters and click-on drops were being marketed to bypass regulations and hook new users.
The WHO noted that more than 50 countries had banned flavoured tobacco, while over 40 countries had prohibited e-cigarette sales. However, flavour accessories remain largely unregulated in many places.
It also said countries like Belgium, Denmark, and Lithuania had taken steps to control flavoured products and urged other nations to follow suit.
The WHO Director of Health Promotion Rüdiger Krech, on his part, condemned the marketing tactics of tobacco companies, describing them as manipulative and harmful.
“We are watching a generation get hooked on nicotine through gummy bear-flavoured pouches and rainbow-coloured vapes,” Krech said, adding that “This isn’t innovation, it’s manipulation. And we must stop it.”
The WHO reiterated that all tobacco products, including heated tobacco, expose users to cancer-causing chemicals and should be strictly regulated.
In January 2025, a civil society organisation, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) called on the National Assembly to increase the budgetary allocation for tobacco control from N10 million to N300 million in the proposed 2025 national budget.
The group made the appeal to the lawmakers as they reviewed the N49.7 trillion appropriation bill presented by President Bola Tinubu in December 2024.
The CAPPA’s executive director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, stressed the urgent need for increased funding to address the “devastating impact” of tobacco use in Nigeria.
According to him, tobacco consumption remains a leading preventable cause of death globally, with Nigeria recording over 26,800 tobacco-related deaths annually.
He highlighted the broader health implications of tobacco use, including non-communicable diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and chronic respiratory illnesses, which he said placed a significant burden on the nation’s healthcare system.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M