For decades, the World Health Organization (WHO) has played a critical role in global tobacco control. Its warnings about the dangers of smoking have helped shape public health policy and reduce the global burden of tobacco-related diseases. But somewhere along the way, WHO’s mission seems to have blurred. Today, the same organization that once focused on ending the smoking epidemic is now lumping better alternatives such as nicotine pouches into the same category as combustible tobacco.
This is not just scientifically inaccurate but also dangerously counterproductive. It has been proven time and time again that it is not nicotine, but the combustion of tobacco that causes the overwhelming majority of smoking-related harm. Burning tobacco releases thousands of toxic chemicals, many of which are carcinogenic. In contrast, nicotine pouches do not involve combustion, tar, or smoke. They offer a potentially better alternative for smokers who cannot or will not quit cold turkey.
And that is the crux of the issue. If quitting smoking were simply a matter of willpower, we would not be facing a global smoking crisis. Millions of people relapse every year not because they want to, but because the available options fail to meet their needs. Nicotine replacement therapies have had limited success, and going cold turkey has one of the highest failure rates in addiction recovery. In this landscape, better alternatives can offer a pragmatic, science-backed path away from cigarettes.
By opposing these tools, WHO risks undermining harm reduction, a principle it has supported in other public health domains. When the same approach is applied to nicotine, it suddenly becomes controversial. This inconsistency is not only baffling, it is harmful. It denies smokers access to tools that could finally help them leave cigarettes behind.
The war on smoking must not become a war on smokers. And it certainly should not become a war on science-backed solutions that offer hope where traditional methods have failed. WHO’s focus should remain on the real enemy which is tobacco combustion. Anything less is a disservice to public health.
This article is written by Mehar Nawaz. She is a writer with a deep interest in public health, policy analysis, and tobacco harm reduction.