Zyn nicotine pouches are all over TikTok, sparking debate among politicians and health experts

WASHINGTON — There’s nothing complicated about the latest tobacco product trending online: Zyn is a tiny pouch filled with nicotine and flavoring.

But it has stoked a debate among politicians, parents and pundits that reflects an increasingly complex landscape in which Big Tobacco companies aggressively push alternative products while experts wrestle with their potential benefits and risks.

Zyn comes in flavors like mint, coffee and citrus, and Philip Morris International markets it to adult tobacco users. But videos of young people popping the pouches have racked up millions of views on TikTok and other social media platforms.

That trend has advocates worried that Zyn could become the latest nicotine product to attract underage teens, similar to the way Juul triggered a yearslong spike in vaping. Other experts say that risk is outweighed by the potential to steer adults away from cigarettes and other traditional tobacco products, which account for 480,000 U.S. deaths annually.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result,” said Dr. Jasjit Ahluwalia, an addiction specialist at Brown University. “That is what we’ve done with tobacco for decades. We’ve been all about abstinence, instead of embracing products that can reduce harm.”

Ahluwalia sees nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes as a way to help smokers cut back or quit cigarettes.

That approach is standard practice in the U.K., but it’s outside the medical mainstream in the U.S., where only pharmaceutical-grade medications like nicotine gum and lozenges are formally approved to help smokers quit.

Ahluwalia points out that Zyn works the same way as those products: releasing low levels of nicotine that are absorbed into the gums, reducing cravings. The chief difference, he notes, is that Zyn is sold by Philip Morris, the global cigarette giant and a longtime foe of anti-smoking groups.

The controversy around Zyn recently spilled over into politics, pitting Democrats and Republicans in Washington against each other and spiraling into another skirmish in the nation’s culture war.

In late January, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, of New York, called on regulators to investigate Zyn, citing its appeal to teens. Several House Republicans then warned constituents that “Big Brother” intended to “ban nicotine.”

Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, a Zyn user, jumped into the fray, declaring: “Zyn is not a sin,” and touting its unproven benefits, like…