Limiting nicotine levels in cigarettes

In its previous couple of days of power, the Biden administration is predicted to officially propose a limit on nicotine in cigarettes. It might be a last-minute move to thrust back against the tobacco industry after President Joe Biden did not finalize a long-standing pledge to ban menthol cigarettes. 

The proposal, which could come as soon as Monday, shouldn’t be expected to incorporate tobacco products like e-cigarettes or nicotine alternative patches and lozenges.

“It is a Hail Mary from the Biden administration to maneuver forward with a meaningful proposal, or not less than to jump-start one within the waning days of the administration,” said Erika Sward, assistant vice chairman of national advocacy for the American Lung Association.

While it is the toxins released by flamable tobacco that cause chronic illnesses and death related to smoking, it’s nicotine that first gets people hooked, after which keeps them coming back.

Precise details of the proposal to cap nicotine levels haven’t been released. Multiple studies have suggested, nevertheless, that levels can have to be slashed by as much as 95% to make them minimally or non-addictive.

“This is able to be a historic motion by the FDA that has the potential to have an unlimited impact on public health,” said Dr. Rose Marie Robertson, science and medical officer of the American Heart Association.

Cigarette smoking is the leading reason behind preventable disease and death within the U.S., in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, killing greater than 480,000 people every year.

Nearly all smokers began as teenagers. Making cigarettes less addictive would save tens of millions of lives, Sward said.

A 2018 study from the Food and Drug Administration estimated that a nicotine cap would lead to 16 million fewer people becoming hooked on smoking by the 12 months 2060. That number would increase, per the study’s projection, to 33.1 million by 2100.

If the Biden administration releases the proposed rule next week, it will still likely take several years to turn out to be final.

Limiting nicotine in cigarettes can be “game-changing,” Yolonda C. Richardson, president and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a press release to NBC News. “Few actions would do more to fight chronic diseases equivalent to cancer and heart problems that greatly undermine health in the US and that the incoming administration has indicated needs to be a priority to deal with.”

It was during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term when the FDA — which has authority to control tobacco — first publicly discussed a plan to limit nicotine levels.

In 2017, then-FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb set the wheels in motion by unveiling a “comprehensive plan” that included an idea to “regulate nicotine in flamable cigarettes and render them minimally or non-addictive.”

It was intended, partly, to redirect adult smokers to noncombustible products equivalent to e-cigarettes. The 2017 plan also included the potential for regulation of e-cigarette flavors and a ban on menthol products. A federal ban on most flavors went into effect in 2020, nevertheless, menthol stays available on the market.

In an interview this week, Gottlieb said that addressing smoking rates would must be “at the highest of the agenda” in any effort to enhance public health and reduce chronic disease.

“There may very well be perhaps no more impactful thing we will do than to dramatically reduce smoking rates on this country,” he said.