FDA to Limit Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes

man's hand breaking a cigarette in half

difference between cigarettes and e-cigs

Last month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took a pivotal first step to reduce nicotine levels in combustible cigarettes by publishing an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) to initiate a public dialogue regarding its plan to implement a product standard to set a maximum nicotine level in traditional cigarettes to make them minimally addictive or non-addictive.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the US

Cigarettes are responsible for over 480,000 deaths in the US each year, more than “AIDS, alcohol, illegal drug use, homicide, suicide, and motor vehicle crashes combined.” In fact, smoking costs close to $300 billion in direct health care and lost productivity per year.

Tackling the addictiveness of cigarettes by reducing the level of nicotine in them has the potential to positively impact the success rates of those trying to quit the deadly habit while also preventing youth experimenting with cigarettes from getting hooked.

Included in the ANPRM are new estimates published in the New England Journal of Medicine that evaluate one possible scenario that, if implemented, could help about 5 million additional adults quit within one year of implementation. By the end of the century, that same model could reduce the smoking rate from 15 percent to just 1.4 percent, saving more than 8 million lives.

Key difference between combustible and non-combustible nicotine delivery methods

There is no denying that nicotine is an addictive substance; however, when delivered through combustible cigarettes, users also inhale other toxic chemicals, including an assortment of carcinogens. Not only do smokers expose themselves to toxins such as hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and carbon monoxide, but the tobacco smoke emitted also adversely affects non-smokers around them.

Although non-combustible products such as the nicotine patch, gum, and lozenges and electronic cigarettes also deliver nicotine, they do so in a significantly less harmful way. E-cigs, for instance, heat a liquid to release nicotine through vapor, which does not contain many of the toxins present in cigarette smoke.

Therefore, the FDA plans on encouraging the innovation of alternative nicotine delivery products that are less harmful than cigarettes so that current adult smokers can continue to obtain nicotine but from less dangerous sources.

What do you think of the FDA’s unprecedented first step in reducing the addictiveness of cigarettes? Tell us in the comments section below.

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