New Zyn Lawsuit Says Tobacco Cos. Falsely Advertise Addictive Nicotine Pouches as Healthy

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The companies behind Zyn nicotine pouches face a proposed class action lawsuit that alleges they have falsely advertised and marketed the product as healthy and a nicotine-cessation device. 

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The 45-page Zyn lawsuit against Phillip Morris International and Swedish Match North America says the popular, discrete nicotine pouches are merely the latest delivery mechanism for addictive nicotine, particularly to a market of young people who less frequently choose to smoke traditional cigarettes. 

The suit accuses the tobacco giants of having “pulled out every play in the tobacco-industry playbook,” including heavy reliance on social-influencer marketing, to hook an entirely new generation on nicotine pouches that, by and large, are more potent than regular tobacco cigarettes. 

“Despite ZYN being nothing more than a method for delivering an addictive drug – nicotine – to users, Defendants deceptively marketed it as a healthy product,” the complaint summarizes. 

Despite Zyn’s health-focused, addiction-cessation marketing, the pouches—touted as smoke-, spit- and hands-free and made with food-grade flavorings—have no health benefits, are not proven or authorized to be used as a cessation device, and ultimately cause nicotine addiction in new users while sustaining addiction in those who are already hooked, the complaint charges. 

“As has been the case for decades, Defendants made a targeted effort to push Zyn on adolescents and young adults, emphasizing the ability to use it discretely,” the suit charges.

According to the filing, nicotine addiction can be particularly harmful to a developing brain, with young people significantly more likely to become addicted than adults. Nicotine toxicity and mental health and behavioral disorders, such as depression, are also linked to youth nicotine consumption, the suit adds. 

Importantly, because Zyn pouches do not contain tobacco leaves, the product is not recognized as a smokeless tobacco product and is thus not regulated as tightly as smokeless tobacco or traditional cigarettes, the case points out. Because of this, there are no rules that prevent or restrict flavored oral nicotine pouches such as Zyn, whose popularity has skyrocketed in the United States and which delivers a much stronger concentration of nicotine than cigarettes, the lawsuit says. 

“Indeed, on information and belief, the negative consequences of nicotine are greater with ZYN use than with combustible cigarette use because ZYN is typically sold in the United States in three and six milligram strengths, whereas smokers absorb little more than one milligram of nicotine from a cigarette.” 

According to the filing, FAQ language on the Zyn website is “intended to deceive, and has deceived, consumers” into believing not only that the pouches are safer than cigarettes, but that Zyn is considered safe by the FDA.  

The lawsuit looks to cover all persons in the United States who used oral nicotine pouches produced and manufactured by Phillip Morris International and Swedish Match North America and sold under the brand name Zyn. 

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