FDA Proposes Plan to Make Cigarettes Nonaddictive

FDA's Bold Plan to Strip Nicotine from Cigarettes Faces Trump-Era Showdown

In a groundbreaking move, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a proposal on Wednesday aimed at making cigarettes less addictive by capping their nicotine content. This plan, long championed by antismoking advocates, seeks to reduce nicotine levels to a threshold that would make cigarettes nonaddictive. However, the proposal’s future remains uncertain, especially with the impending transition of power to President-elect Donald Trump.

Cigarettes (Photo: New Africa/shutterstock)

With just days left in President Joe Biden’s term, the likelihood of this proposal being enacted during his presidency is slim. While Trump’s health nominees, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have not yet addressed the proposal, similar efforts under Trump’s first FDA commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, were halted during his first term. Even if the plan moves forward under the new administration, major tobacco companies like Reynolds American and Altria are expected to challenge it in court, potentially delaying its implementation for years.

The FDA’s proposal comes after years of research, with officials projecting that reducing nicotine content could help 13 million current smokers quit within a year. Additionally, an estimated 48 million young people would be deterred from ever picking up the habit, as cigarettes would no longer be addictive.

The agency’s plan caps nicotine levels at a threshold that would “no longer create and sustain addiction,” a major step in efforts to curb smoking-related diseases. The proposal is accompanied by a 334-page analysis, which was published online in the federal register on Wednesday.

Antismoking groups have strongly endorsed the measure, urging Kennedy to support its implementation if he is confirmed as health secretary. Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, emphasized the importance of tobacco regulation in achieving broader health goals. “Tobacco regulation is a huge part of reducing chronic disease in this country,” she said.

Smoking continues to be a leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., responsible for over 480,000 deaths annually due to diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Despite a significant decline in smoking rates among adults and teenagers, the long-term health consequences of smoking remain a serious concern.

The FDA’s proposal to limit nicotine has its roots in the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009, which granted the FDA sweeping authority to regulate the tobacco industry. However, the agency’s efforts to regulate nicotine, as well as other tobacco-related measures like graphic warning labels, have been hindered by legal challenges from tobacco companies.

Under the law, the FDA is permitted to regulate nicotine but cannot eliminate it entirely. The proposed nicotine cap represents an unprecedented global effort to reduce smoking-related deaths and could set a precedent for other countries to follow.

Currently, there are no nicotine limits in the U.S., though nicotine naturally occurs in tobacco plants. Techniques such as chemical extraction and cross-breeding plants could be used to reduce nicotine content in cigarettes.

The FDA first announced its intention to work on the proposed rule in 2022, receiving thousands of public comments from stakeholders, including tobacco companies, retailers, health experts, and consumers.

While smoking rates in the U.S. continue to decline, with the latest figures showing that just 1 in 9 adults currently smoke, the proposal to reduce nicotine could have a lasting impact on public health. Though low-nicotine cigarettes are not a new concept, research has shown that when smokers switch to very low nicotine options, they tend to smoke less and are more likely to quit. This data is crucial to the FDA’s argument that smokers will not simply compensate by smoking more cigarettes or inhaling more deeply, as was the case with “light” and “low tar” cigarettes in the past, which were later banned for being misleading.

As the future of this proposal hangs in the balance, its success—or failure—will depend largely on the actions of the incoming administration and how it chooses to approach tobacco regulation.


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