What Is Nicotine—And How Does Big Tobacco Weaponize It?

Big Tobacco offers a wide menu of products, and positions each one a little differently. It implies that some are safer than others, but from cigarettes to hookahs to nicotine pouches to e-cigarettes and more, all of Big Tobacco’s products have one major commonality: They all contain nicotine.

Nicotine is an addictive chemical found in tobacco plants. People inhale or ingest nicotine when they use tobacco products, like cigarettes, heated tobacco products, bidis, waterpipes, cigars, pipes or oral tobacco, or even products that don’t contain tobacco, such as e-cigarettes* and nicotine pouches.

Whether or not a product contains tobacco, all products that contain nicotine are addictive. Nicotine is the reason why these products can be so difficult to quit, even for people who really want to. And the tobacco industry knows it.

The known (and unknown) harms of nicotine

While nicotine is not the key driver of some diseases caused by tobacco use, such as lung disease and a multitude of cancers, it has many side effects.

Nicotine is a stimulant and can temporarily make people feel more alert and improve their mood. It also has harmful side effects. After taking a puff of a cigarette, high doses of nicotine can reach the brain within seven seconds.

In the short term, nicotine can elevate your heart rate and increase your blood pressure. In the long term, it can lead to the narrowing of arteries or the hardening of arterial walls, which can increase the risk of a heart attack. And while nicotine isn’t a carcinogen, some research suggests that it may play a role in cancer progression.

The delivery method of nicotine also comes with its own harms. E-cigarettes, which don’t contain tobacco, can generate toxic substances, and their long-term effects on health are unknown.

Nicotine’s negative side effects continue even after use. Nicotine withdrawal can lead to chest tightness, headaches, dizziness, gastrointestinal issues, psychological agitation, unease, fatigue and sadness or depression.

Even just handling tobacco leaves can subject people to the chemical’s side effects. Tobacco growers are at risk of contracting green tobacco sickness, which causes headaches, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and other symptoms.

Nicotine is harmful to young people

Experts agree that nicotine is harmful to children and adolescents. Its toxic effects—even in doses as low as 1 – 4 milligrams—can include confusion, vomiting and loss of consciousness. In large doses, nicotine can be deadly to children.

As the popularity of e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches has increased, so have incidences of children ingesting these products. Reports of children ingesting the liquid nicotine found in e-cigarettes increased by almost 60% in the U.S. between 2010 and 2015, with the majority of incidents involving children under the age of two. While ingestion of e-cigarette liquids dropped between 2015 and 2023, reports of children ingesting nicotine pouches increased by 763% between 2020 and 2023—and these cases were more likely to have serious medical outcomes.

Nicotine is also harmful to adolescents—a key target market for the industry’s products. The effects of nicotine on adolescent brain development can be long-lasting. Exposure to nicotine can affect the parts of the brain related to attention, learning, mood and impulse control. Nicotine can also increase stress levels and contribute negatively to teens’ mental health.

The tobacco industry weaponized nicotine to sustain the tobacco epidemic

In 1994, the president of the U.S. Tobacco Company told the U.S. Congress, under oath, “I don’t believe that nicotine or our products are addictive.” Six other tobacco company CEOs testified alongside him. Not only was this false (industry documents show that tobacco companies had known for decades that nicotine was addictive), the industry had been intentionally manipulating its products to make them more addictive.

Tobacco and nicotine companies have been found to modify tobacco crops to deliver more nicotine. They have altered their product designs to increase the amount of nicotine smokers consume. They’ve added ammonia to cigarettes to help nicotine reach the brain faster. They’ve underreported how much nicotine is in heated tobacco products, exposing users to up to eight times the amount of nicotine they thought they were getting. They’ve created e-cigarette cartridges that contain as much nicotine as 20 cigarettes and that, they claim, deliver nicotine 2.7 times faster than other e-cigarettes.

The industry benefits from a general lack of awareness around how much nicotine is in newer products such as e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches. In the U.S., the average nicotine concentration in e-cigarettes increased by 106% between 2013 and 2018. Disposable e-cigarettes, which are popular among young people around the world, may also have higher nicotine strengths.

Studies have also found that labeling on nicotine pouches is often misleading or insufficient, or sometimes missing altogether. Some pouches were found to have nicotine contents up to 50 mg per pouch (for reference, most people inhale 1 – 2 mg of nicotine per cigarette). Many users may not be aware that they might be consuming significantly more nicotine than if they used tobacco.

Now, the industry is leaning heavily on nicotine products to offset reductions in tobacco use in many parts of the world and protect its profits. All of the Big Four transnational tobacco companies have developed e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches, and many are finding ways to market them to young people.

The industry is creating a global youth nicotine epidemic

Big Tobacco may say its e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches are for adult smokers who want to move away from cigarettes, but evidence shows it targets these products at children and young people.

The industry designs nicotine products to appeal to young people. Companies add fruit and candy flavors to e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches. E-cigarette designs range from toy-like to sleek and high-tech, and are often marketed as lifestyle products. Tobacco companies market these products widely on social media. A Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids report found that social media marketing promoting British American Tobacco (BAT)’s nicotine pouch reached over 10 million users under age 18, and promotion of its e-cigarette reached 4.3 million users under age 18.

As a result of the industry’s efforts, e-cigarette and nicotine pouch use is growing among young people. There is also a risk of these products contributing to the tobacco epidemic: Research suggests that non-smokers who use e-cigarettes may be up to three times more likely to start smoking cigarettes than people who don’t use e-cigarettes.

Policymakers can—and should—protect the next generation

In 1963, an executive at Brown and Williamson, a BAT subsidiary, said “Nicotine is addictive. We are, then, in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug.” This still rings true today. And all people, especially the youngest generation, deserve to be protected from industry tactics that aim to entrap them in a lifetime of addiction.

Governments have the power to reduce, or even prevent, a youth nicotine epidemic in their country. The Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) has encouraged countries to ban or strictly regulate e-cigarettes. Age restrictions on nicotine products, regulating nicotine levels to reduce addiction, banning nicotine product advertising and increasing taxes on nicotine products are just some of the actions policymakers can take to protect the youngest generations.

^{*While not all commercial e-cigarettes contain nicotine, most do.}