ZYNdicated: FDA gives nicotine pouch giant a big break

Many people have turned away from cigarettes in recent years, opting for “healthier,” smokeless alternatives.

And now the Food and Drug Administration has effectively backed up the claim by changing its regulations — for a crowd-favorite brand, no less.

‘Using ZYN instead of cigarettes puts you at a lower risk of mouth cancer, heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.’

On Tuesday, the FDA updated its regulations of ZYN nicotine pouches so that the products can be marketed with language suggesting that ZYN, made by Swedish Match USA Inc., is indeed healthier — or are at least less harmful — than cigarettes, as many people might have suspected.

Specifically, the FDA says the label can say: “Using ZYN instead of cigarettes puts you at a lower risk of mouth cancer, heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.”

RELATED: WARNING: Nicotine may cause focus, motivation, and joie de vivre (which is why they hate it)

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

“FDA’s decision is an important moment for the more than 45 million legal-age nicotine consumers in America,” Philip Morris U.S. CEO Stacey Kennedy said in a statement obtained by CNBC. “Today’s news ensures these adults have access to accurate, science-based information, including FDA-authorized evidence that switching from cigarettes to ZYN reduces the risk of smoking-related diseases like heart disease and lung cancer.”

The new regulation will apply to 10 flavors of the original product line at two different strengths, three milligrams and six milligrams.

The flavors are chill, cinnamon, citrus, coffee, cool mint, menthol, peppermint, smooth, spearmint, and wintergreen.

It apparently does not, however, apply to ZYN’s new flavors, peach, black cherry, and dragonberry, which were teased on ZYN’s Instagram page last month.

“FDA’s review of modified risk products is intended to ensure that adult users have clear, science-based information about the relative harms of tobacco products, so they can make informed choices,” Bret Koplow, acting director of the agency’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement obtained by The Hill.

“Today’s decision allows these products to be marketed with a modified risk claim that informs adults who smoke about the lower risks associated with these products,” Koplow added.

It is important to note that this regulatory update is a marketing authorization, not an “FDA-approval.” The FDA says that “no tobacco product is safe” and instead deals in terms of “relative risk.”

According to the FDA’s website, the application to gain this marketing authorization “must demonstrate that the product will significantly reduce harm and the risk of tobacco-related disease to individual tobacco users and benefit the health of the population as a whole.”

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