The Netherlands warns of new high-dose nicotine sticks

The Dutch Public Health Agency (RIVM) is warning of the dangers of new tobacco-free nicotine sticks formulated with herbal ingredients such as rooibos tea, which far exceed regulatory limits for inhaled nicotine. These products, often used with heated tobacco devices, are not currently subject to the same restrictions as tobacco products, allowing the industry to circumvent European bans, particularly on flavors. An urgent ban is required.[1].

Nicotine sticks containing high doses of nicotine

In a report published on June 5, 2025, the Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu The Dutch public health agency RIVM (RIVM) has issued a warning about the worrying composition of new tobacco-free nicotine sticks. Designed to be inserted into heated tobacco devices, these products contain nicotine in quantities well above the established reference values for safe exposure.

The study found that some of these sticks can deliver up to 5.4 mg of nicotine per unit, nearly three times the maximum recommended dose of 2 mg per smoking session. This dose is considered by health authorities to be a threshold beyond which the risks of harmful health effects increase significantly. For comparison, the amount of nicotine delivered by a traditional cigarette averages between 1 and 2 mg.

The RIVM emphasizes that this high exposure to nicotine significantly increases the risk of addiction, particularly among young people and people who have never smoked. Nicotine is a powerful psychoactive substance that acts quickly on the central nervous system, resulting in addictive reinforcing effects comparable to those of other hard drugs.

In addition to its addictive potential, nicotine in high doses can cause acute effects such as palpitations, nausea, dizziness, increases in blood pressure, and, in the long term, contribute to the development of cardiovascular and neurological diseases.

In its opinion, the RIVM concludes that the marketing of these products without specific supervision poses a risk to public health. The agency therefore recommends their ban, in the absence of precise standards governing their composition, method of administration, and accessibility.

Unregulated products used to circumvent regulations on heated tobacco

The emergence of these tobacco-free nicotine sticks is part of a broader regulatory circumvention strategy by the tobacco industry. Although designed for use in the same devices as heated tobacco—such as IQOS—these sticks technically do not contain tobacco. As such, they escape the strict legal restrictions imposed by the European Union's Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), including bans on attractive flavors, labeling, health warnings, and pre-market assessment.

This regulatory uncertainty provides the industry with significant commercial leverage: it can continue to offer attractively designed, often flavored, products while avoiding transparency requirements and marketing restrictions imposed on tobacco products. The RIVM points out that these sticks are often presented as "safer alternatives" or "tobacco-free" products, misleading consumers about their real dangers, particularly for young people.

This is not the first time that manufacturers have exploited loopholes in the legal framework. In 2023, several European countries[2] were already warning of a similar tactic, with the marketing of tobacco-free flavored refills compatible with heated tobacco devices, just after the Court of Justice of the European Union confirmed the legality of the ban on flavors in heated tobacco. By circumventing the ban, the industry was thus able to continue to attract young people with sweet and fruity flavors while maintaining its market share for new products.

These practices illustrate the clear desire of nicotine manufacturers to reposition themselves on the market with technologically innovative but highly addictive products, through circumvention strategies and aggressive marketing. The lack of appropriate regulation allows these products to proliferate in a legal context that is struggling to keep up with the rapid evolution of nicotine consumption devices.

Faced with this situation, several voices are being raised in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands, to extend existing regulations to all products containing nicotine, with or without tobacco. The objective is clear: to prevent these gray areas from becoming gateways to addiction, particularly among young people, and to put an end to a well-established industry strategy: always staying one step ahead of regulations.

An urgent need to strengthen the regulatory framework

The case of tobacco-free nicotine sticks highlights a significant flaw in the current European legal framework, which does not cover all products containing nicotine. The RIVM calls for urgently tightened regulations to prevent new, unregulated nicotine products from entering the market and to withdraw the sticks currently sold in the Netherlands from the market.

This need for stronger regulation is all the more urgent given that the tobacco industry is investing heavily in the research and marketing of new nicotine devices, which are at the limits of current legislation. These strategies are often supported by aggressive marketing campaigns—particularly via social media—and are primarily aimed at young people and non-smokers, increasing the risk of developing nicotine addiction.

More broadly, the case of tobacco-free sticks is part of a global trend observed in many European countries: that of a gradual shift in the market towards so-called "alternative" products, insufficiently regulated, which prolong nicotine dependence and undermine efforts to combat smoking.

©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] Dutch health agency urges ban on unregulated nicotine sticks, NL Times, published June 5, 2025, accessed the same day

[2] Tobacco-free generation, New "tobacco-free alternatives" in the sights of certain European countries, published April 3, 2024, accessed June 5, 2025