Radar puts Brussels' powerful nicotine lobby under scrutiny
The tobacco industry keeps inventing new ways to hook people on nicotine. After vapes and nicotine pouches, nicotine sweets and dissolvable strips have now hit the market — products that look like Tic Tacs or breath-freshening strips and appeal especially to young people. Lung physician and prominent anti-smoking campaigner Wanda de Kanter appeared on the Dutch consumer programme Radar to raise the alarm.
In the episode of Monday 26 October, AVROTROS's Radar dives into the powerful nicotine lobby in Brussels. How does the industry keep staying ahead of European legislation? The problem starts with the product definitions in the EU Tobacco Products Directive: products containing no tobacco largely fall outside it. Tobacco-free strips and mints face no requirements on nicotine content, warnings or product notification. Health minister Sophie Hermans is pressed by Radar: are we doing enough to stop this industry?
