FDA Researches Low-Nicotine Cigarettes

The agency is exploring the effects on various amounts of nicotine in cigarettes with smokers.

August 01, 2013

PITTSBURGH — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating how different amounts of nicotine in cigarettes impacts smoking habits, the Washington Post reports. The agency, tasked with regulating how much nicotine is in cigarettes, has been working on the matter with the University of Pittsburgh and nine other places around the United States.

Research participants will smoke cigarettes containing as little as 5% nicotine than regular cigarettes. The agency is hoping that research like this will enable it to set nicotine levels at a lower rate in cigarettes. 

“These studies are geared toward helping the FDA come up with these guidelines. They want evidence-based research to help them do that. We’re trying to help them achieve that goal,” said Joni Rutter, acting director of the division of basic neuroscience and behavioral research at the National Institutes of Health.

Some are skeptical that lower nicotine levels will reduce the addictive power of cigarettes. “I really don’t think we know what’s going to happen as we reduce nicotine levels,” said Gregory N. Connolly, a Harvard professor of public health and a former member of an FDA tobacco advisory panel. “Are people going to increase their smoking behavior [to compensate]? Are they going to reject the product? Tobacco addiction is very complex.”

Another concern is creating more of an audience for illegal tobacco. Bryan M. Haynes, an attorney with a firm that counts several tobacco companies as clients, said the agency should be very careful about altering nicotine levels. “One consideration would be whether people smoke more cigarettes” with lower nicotine levels, he said. “If you alter the fundamental properties of a product, people will start looking toward contraband. It could create black market.”

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