FDA authorizes Zyn nicotine pouches, citing public health benefits for adult smokers, despite concerns over flavored products' appeal to teens.

The Food and Drug Administration Thursday authorized marketing of 20 nicotine pouches — the first time the products have been greenlit by the agency. Nicotine pouches are tobacco-free sachets filled with nicotine and flavorings that are held between the gums and lips similar to snus,

Zyn and the retailers who sell the product have run afoul of regulators in recent years. The FDA in April of last year warned 119 retailers to stop selling Zyn to underage people, and the company was ordered to pay $1.2 million last year for violating Washington, D.C.’s smokeless tobacco ban.

The FDA said "an extensive scientific review" found the products were found to pose lower risks of cancer and other serious health conditions compared to cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products.

The FDA authorized the marketing of 20 Zyn products on Thursday, marking the first allowance for the fast-growing nicotine pouches.

Marketing for the popular nicotine pouch product, Zyn, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to help smokers quit cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The Food and Drug Administration OK'd 10 Zyn flavors, including coffee, mint and menthol. It's the first time regulators have authorized sales of nicotine pouches, which are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. tobacco market.

The FDA authorized the marketing of 20 different Zyn nicotine pouch products -- the first brand to clear this regulatory hurdle in the increasingly popular class of single-use sachets of flavored nicotine designed to be placed between the lip and gums,

Little pouches of nicotine sold by the brand ZYN were given the green light for marketing this week through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) pathway.