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The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on governments to ban flavours and additives, including menthol, in tobacco and nicotine products to protect children and young people from addiction.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Mohamed Janabi, made the call in a statement issued on Sunday to mark World No Tobacco Day, themed: “Unmasking the Appeal: Countering Nicotine and Tobacco Addiction.”
Janabi warned that rapid changes in tobacco and nicotine markets were threatening decades of public health progress across Africa and placing young people at unprecedented risk.
He said nicotine addiction was “engineered, not accidental,” driven by deliberate industry designs aimed at attracting users early and keeping them dependent for life.
According to him, the theme highlights industry tactics that use sugars, menthol, acids and cooling agents to mask nicotine’s harshness and make products more appealing to first-time users.
He urged African Member States to strengthen regulations that reduced the addictiveness, attractiveness and accessibility of tobacco and nicotine products, particularly among people under the age of 25.
Janabi noted that the call came as Africa’s hard-won tobacco control gains faced new threats from emerging products such as e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, nicotine pouches and other nicotine-like substances.
“In spite of many countries ratifying the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and reducing tobacco use through taxes, smoke-free laws and pictorial warnings, aggressive marketing and regulatory loopholes are undermining progress,” he said.
He added that young people were especially vulnerable because the adolescent brain adapted rapidly to nicotine.
“With more than 60 per cent of Africa’s population under the age of 25, failing to act decisively will have profound and long-lasting consequences.
“Prevention through comprehensive policy action is more effective and equitable than treating addiction after it takes hold,” he said.
The regional director said the tobacco industry’s objective remained unchanged: to recruit new users, replace those lost through quitting or death, and secure lifelong profits.
“What has changed is how addiction is engineered,” he said.
According to Janabi, today’s tobacco and nicotine products are deliberately designed to encourage use and increase dependence, with product features informed by research into brain responses and human behaviour.
“By adding sugars, flavours, menthol, acids and artificial cooling agents, manufacturers mask the harshness of nicotine, making products easier to inhale for first-time users.
“Many products also allow users to adjust nicotine strength or delivery, enabling them to inhale more nicotine and other harmful substances without realising it.
“These design strategies accelerate the path from experimentation to dependence, particularly among adolescents whose brains are still developing,” he said.
Janabi warned that even low levels of nicotine exposure could lead to strong dependence, impaired brain development and increased the risk of long-term or lifelong addiction.
He cited evidence showing that nearly nine in 10 adults who smoke daily began smoking before the age of 18, making children and adolescents prime targets for industry marketing.
According to him, the industry uses flavoured products, sleek and colourful designs, digital and social media marketing, influencer promotions and misleading harm-reduction claims to normalise nicotine use and portray it as fashionable or harmless.
“There is no safe tobacco use or safe level of non-therapeutic nicotine exposure,” he said.
Janabi emphasised that all tobacco and nicotine products, including cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, water pipes, e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and nicotine pouches, were harmful and addictive.
“Even smoking one cigarette a day significantly increases the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. Using more than one product increases toxic exposure and makes quitting harder.
“Nicotine does not relieve stress; it creates it.
“The temporary relaxation users feel is merely relief from withdrawal symptoms, which reinforces addiction and harms mental well-being over time,” he said.
The regional director said children faced additional dangers because even small amounts of nicotine could cause serious poisoning, while accidental exposure to nicotine pouches and liquids was an emerging but preventable risk.
He, however, noted that the benefits of quitting were immediate.
“Within minutes, heart rate and blood pressure drop; within weeks, circulation and lung function improve; and within a year, the excess risk of heart disease is halved.
“Central to all efforts is protecting health policy from tobacco industry interference, as required under Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, because the industry that engineered addiction cannot be permitted to influence public health solutions,” he said.
