It’s safe to say that no other town committee meetings are quite like the Board of Health’s. In the span of a few minutes, last week’s session went from the proper ways to conduct a technical analysis of arsenic and carcinogens in the “crumb rubber” of sports field material to a showdown between convenience store representatives and substance use program directors over the safety and use of nicotine pouches.
The upshot? There are some hazardous chemicals emitted from the fields but the levels are considered safe, at least by some standards. And as the Board of Health – whose current members are all M.D.s or Ph.D.s – considers recommending a ban or strict limitations on the sale of nicotine pouches in Needham stores, it will have to weigh the concerns of both substance use practitioners and store owners.
The nicotine pouch issue was an open hearing, allowing for public comment. The question is part of the half-century-old public health goal of minimizing the use of tobacco (and now its addictive derivative, nicotine) and in particular making it less available and less attractive to minors.
Karen Shannon, the health department’s substance use prevention coordinator, made the case for the ban.
“I’m here to respectfully ask your support to restrict the sale of nicotine pouches in Needham,” Shannon said. “As a substance use prevention corridor coordinator, I can confidently say that the most effective prevention strategies begin with limiting youth exposure and access to addictive substances, including nicotine pouches.
“The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, or CADCA, identifies policy changes such as this proposed regulation as one of the seven strategies for effective community-level change. We know that nicotine is addictive. We’ve talked about the brains of young people, that nicotine disrupts the brain circuitry responsible for action, attention, learning and memory.”
Shannon went on to say that currently pouches are not even a suggested avenue for smoking cessation. Nine other Massachusetts communities, she said, are restricting the sale of nicotine pouches.
“I applaud what Needham is considering doing here,” said Cheryl Sbarra, the executive director and senior staff attorney for the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards. “I don’t think limiting the amount or putting these in adult retail tobacco stores is going to stop adults that want to use these products. It’s just going to protect youth, which is one of our primary goals in public health.”
Like Shannon, Sbarra stated that the pouches are being promoted to teens and they are easy to misuse (for example, by using more than one pouch at a time). She repeated that they are not being targeted to smokers interested in quitting.
Peter Brennan, executive director of the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association, took direct exception. “I would oppose any ban or restriction on legal tobacco products that our adults like to use,” he said.
“There is clear evidence adults are using these products as a less harmful form of nicotine. When you see the increase in pouches over the last few years, that’s a lot of people that have come from chewing tobacco. That’s a lot of people that have come from smoking cigarettes. And I don’t know how you can dispute that fact.
“I know Cheryl usually has a loose relationship with the facts here, but that’s just bald-faced untrue,” said Brennan. “So yes, people are using these to quit more harmful forms of nicotine. We don’t think that restricting the nicotine content really helps people that are coming from a high nicotine source such as chewing tobacco or combustible cigarettes. So you’re actually doing a disservice to those looking to switch to a less harmful product when you make the nicotine content lower and lower on the pouches,” he said.
Board member Dr. Stephen Epstein asked Brennan for the data on which he based that assertion, along with an admonishment: “Everybody should be addressing the chair and there should be no ad hominem attacks. Thank you.”
Other commenters included a representative from Belchertown, which instituted the kind of ban Needham is considering. While enforcement has been challenging, he said, there have been almost no objections from residents, and he encouraged Needham to proceed.
Needham High School student Kalina Mihova, who is a leader of SALSA, the school’s substance use prevention group said, “I’ve personally seen students use Zyn (a nicotine pouch brand) in bathrooms, locker rooms, and even leaving them in water fountains. And because they’re so discreet and don’t create smoke or vapor, they’re much harder to catch, which makes it easier for students to get hooked on them without much adult awareness.” Pouches are second to vaping as a nicotine source for Needham High students, according to a 2023 survey of students. “I truly believe that stronger policies can help protect youth and support healthier futures,” she said.
The discussion about measuring the levels of hazardous materials in the fields quickly got technical. “For crumb rubber,” reported Evan Koncewicz, an environmental geologist with the consulting firm Fuss & O’Neill, “we utilize Mass DEP’s Method Three residential short form for human health risk. The short form defines these two kinds of criteria: Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk, or ELCR, and the Hazard Index.”
The committee was up to the task, getting definitions and explanations until members could be confident they were reading the results correctly.
Still, the investigation is not over. Board member Epstein pointed out that the 42-page analysis report did not eliminate uncertainties or offer a confidence level for its findings.
The consultants agreed it was missing information. “I am not a crumb-rubber expert,” admitted one of the Fuss & O’Neill scientists. “My career is mostly soil and groundwater.”
The board asked the consultants for a follow-up.
Save as PDF