ALL flavours in tobacco and nicotine products, including in cigarette, pouches, hookahs and e-cigarettes must be banned to protect the youth from addiction and disease, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has appealed.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, made this appeal when launching a new publication, asserting that flavours like menthol, bubble gum and cotton candy mask acute harshness of tobacco and nicotine products

As part of the World No Tobacco Day observed every year on May 31, the WHO chief asserted in the publication that flavours not only make it harder to quit but have been linked to serious lung diseases.

Cigarettes, which still cause diseases that propel the deaths of up to half of their users, also come in flavours or can have flavours added to them, he said, underlining that flavours are fuelling a new wave of addiction and should be banned.

 “They undermine decades of progress in tobacco control. Without bold action, the global tobacco epidemic, already killing around eight million people each year, will continue to be driven by addiction dressed up with appealing flavours,” he declared.

The publication, ‘Flavour accessories in tobacco products enhance attractiveness and appeal,’ shows how flavours and accessories like capsule filters and click-on drops are marketed to bypass regulations and hook new users.

Currently over 50 countries ban flavoured tobacco while more than 40 countries ban e-cigarette sales. Five countries specifically ban disposables and seven ban e-cigarette flavours, while flavour accessories remain largely unregulated, he said.

Countries such as Belgium, Denmark and Lithuania are taking action, and WHO urges others to follow, he stated, noting that flavours are a leading reason why young people try tobacco and nicotine products.

Paired with flashy packaging and social media-driven marketing, they’ve increased the appeal of nicotine pouches, heated tobacco and disposable vapes into addictive and harmful products, which aggressively target young people, the publication demonstrates.

Dr Rüdiger Krech, the WHO director of health promotion said that researchers are watching a generation get hooked on nicotine through gummy bear-flavoured pouches and rainbow-coloured vapes. “This isn’t innovation but manipulation, and we must stop it.”

WHO reiterates that tobacco products, including heated tobacco products, expose users to cancer-causing chemicals and should be strictly regulated.

The 2025 World No Tobacco Day campaign honours governments, youth activists and civil society leaders pushing back against industry interference. “Your actions are changing policy and saving lives,” the promotion director noted, insisting that with around eight million tobacco-related deaths each year, the time for action is now. Flavours and the industries that deploy them have no place in a healthy future, he emphasised.

Official data suggests that in Tanzania, tobacco use kills more than 21,800 people annually, with 63 percent of these deaths being premature, among people under the age of 70. About 17 percent of lives lost from tobacco use are due to exposure to secondhand smoke, the data indicates.