The new government must urgently act to halt the worrying use of nicotine pouches by secondary school students, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been reported today that an increasing number of schools have been sending notices to parents to highlight the ongoing use of these products in classrooms. This follows calls from the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals for the HSE to issue a health advisory notice on nicotine pouches.<\/p>\n
\u201cApart from the health implications of these pouches, there is now growing concern that nicotine dependency is causing some students to become irritable at school.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese pouches come in the form of small bags and contain highly addictive nicotine, among other ingredients. The product is placed under the user\u2019s lip and up against the gum, making it very difficult for teachers to detect.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile these pouches are cynically branded as a safer alternative to smoking, in reality they should be viewed as a gateway to lifelong nicotine dependency.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn recent years we have seen welcome restrictions on the sale of vaping products and e-cigarettes to under-18s, as well as legislation to ban disposable vapes and increase the minimum legal smoking age to 21.<\/p>\n
\u201cYet, bizarrely, the outgoing Minister for Health failed to regulate the sale of nicotine pouches in tandem with these other measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new government must not be so complacent about this growing threat to the health and wellbeing of our young people. I will continue to raise this important public health issue with the incoming minister to ensure that school principals\u2019 concerns are listened to and acted upon.\u201d<\/p>\n
January 20, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The new government must urgently act to halt the worrying use of nicotine pouches by secondary school students, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. \u201cIt has been reported today that an increasing number of schools have been sending notices to parents to highlight the ongoing use of these products in classrooms. This follows calls […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218,11,268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-health","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n