Argentina ends nicotine product ban as Brazil stays sidelined

Argentina has moved to regulate innovative nicotine products after ending its ban, setting up a sharp regional contrast with Brazil, which still prohibits the products. Advocates and experts say the shift could shape how South American governments balance harm reduction, enforcement and youth protection.

Why it matters: - Argentina’s new rules create a legal path for innovative nicotine products, including e-cigarettes, heated tobacco and nicotine pouches. - Supporters say regulation gives governments tools to set age limits, enforce quality standards and move adult smokers toward less harmful alternatives. - Brazil’s continued ban leaves those products in an illegal market with no effective oversight on age, quality or sales.

What happened: - Somos Inovação and Fundação Internacional Bases hosted the event “O Poder da Inovação: Como a Argentina Mudou de Rumo e O Que Isso Significa para a Região” on Aug. 11 in Buenos Aires. - The discussion focused on Argentina’s recent legalization of Produtos Inovadores de Nicotina, or PIN, and what the policy shift means for the region. - Federico N. Fernández, CEO of Somos Inovação, outlined Resolution 549/2026, which ends the ban and sets rules for registration, commercialization and supervision of PIN. - The event brought together physicians, scientists and civil society advocates from multiple countries.

The details: - The medical panel included Diego Verrasco of Argentina, pneumologist Mariana Rivera of Argentina, toxicologist and pharmacologist Ingrid Taricano of Brazil, chemist and professor Miguel de La Guardia of Spain, and Marco Antonio Lozano of Chile, a physician and former president of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies. - Panelists argued that the main danger in cigarettes comes from combustion, not nicotine. - Speakers said e-cigarette users face much lower exposure to toxic substances than smokers of combustible cigarettes. - Sweden was cited as a model, with a smoking rate of 5% and one of the world’s lowest lung cancer prevalence levels. - Other examples mentioned as favorable references were the United Kingdom, Japan, the Czech Republic and Greece. - The civil society panel included Carissa Düring of Considerate Pouchers in Sweden, Brazilian advocates Miguel Okumura of THR Brasil and Suely Castro, founder of Quit Like Sweden, along with Fernando Briseño of Mexico and Francisco Ordoñez of Colombia’s ARDT Iberoamérica. - The Somos Inovação website was listed in the release for more information about the network.

Between the lines: - Argentina’s move signals a broader harm-reduction argument gaining ground in parts of the region: regulate nicotine products based on relative risk instead of banning them outright. - The Brazil critique was blunt. Speakers framed the current prohibition as a policy that has not eliminated demand and has instead pushed sales into illegal channels. - Fernández drew a sharp contrast between combustible cigarettes and nicotine pouches, arguing that regulation should focus on combustion as the dividing line.

What’s next: - Advocates want Brazil to follow Argentina’s lead and replace prohibition with regulation. - A policy shift in Brazil would likely hinge on whether regulators decide to recognize different risk levels across nicotine products. - The regional debate is likely to continue as Argentina’s framework is implemented and compared with outcomes in markets that allow legal sales.

The bottom line: - Argentina has chosen regulated access over prohibition for innovative nicotine products, and supporters say Brazil now faces a clear choice between keeping an illegal market or modernizing its nicotine policy.**