<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1656006480173,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017c-98ff-dba3-adfd-dffff9c60000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1656006480173,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017c-98ff-dba3-adfd-dffff9c60000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_55919773", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1038247"} }); ","_id":"00000181-91ad-ddcb-a3e1-ddef8ded0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedThe Biden administration is catching flak over a proposed rule that would limit the amount of nicotine allowed in cigarettes.
The Food and Drug Administration announced earlier this week that it will seek limits on nicotine, arguing that such a limit could impel smokers to quit and prevent young people from taking up the habit.
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“Making cigarettes and other combusted tobacco products minimally addictive or non-addictive would help save lives,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a statement. “The U.S. Surgeon General has reported that 87% of adult smokers start smoking before age 18, and about two-thirds of adult daily smokers began smoking daily by 18 years of age.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that smoking causes 480,000 deaths per year, with 13.7% of American adults listed as smokers.
The rule is a long way from implementation. It will be published next May and then go into a public comment period — and could be delayed further by lawsuits after that.
Nonetheless, opponents are raising concerns about unintended consequences, including the possibility of black markets or even increased smoking in order to satisfy a nicotine craving.
“Lowering nicotine levels will cause smokers to take more smoke breaks, and people will smoke more,” said Richard Marianos, a Georgetown University professor and former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives officer. “It’ll also cause more criminals to bring in counterfeit products or enhance the product through their own means to create stronger nicotine levels. The black market, the criminal element will get stronger selling high-nicotine products.”
Marianos added that black markets not only evade taxes and rely on unregulated products but that profits can be used for illicit means by crime syndicates. Local police will also be tasked with enforcement, which creates another set of problems.
The FDA of late has aggressively targeted tobacco products, proposing to ban menthol cigarettes and ordering Juul Labs vaping products off store shelves.
Many of the questions about nicotine limits boil down to consumer behavior — if presented with low-nicotine cigarettes at the local convenience store, will smokers quit, will they smoke more to get the same fix, or will they turn to alternative means?
Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, is betting on the former.
“This is a truly game-changing proposal that would accelerate declines in smoking and save millions of lives from cancer and other tobacco-related diseases,” he said in a statement. “But these gains will only be realized if the Administration and the FDA demonstrate a full-throated commitment to finalizing and implementing this proposal.”
The White House referred questions from the Washington Examiner to the FDA.
In written responses, FDA spokeswoman Cherie Duvall-Jones said the agency will “consider potential countervailing effects,” including the possibility of black markets.
“However, the FDA will also consider the full realm of relevant considerations, such as the possibility that most smokers will quit, that commercial and feasibility factors will limit such trade, and that smokers who continue to seek nicotine will be able to get it more easily and with less risk from legal sources, including safe and effective treatments authorized by the FDA and potentially less harmful legally marketed tobacco products,” she said.
That people could switch to cigarettes to get a nicotine fix is also being considered, Duvall-Jones added.
“As part of the discussion regarding a potential product standard for minimally or nonaddictive combustible cigarettes, the FDA will consider the potential for any adverse effects, including the possibility that addicted smokers could increase their cigarette intake to receive a specific level of nicotine,” she said.
Tim Andrews, director of consumer issues at Americans for Tax Reform, argues the Biden administration is misguided in its attempt to reduce smoking deaths.
“We know that nicotine does not cause damage to the health of smokers or those around them,” he said. “The smoke, and the thousands of deadly chemicals in that smoke, is what kills hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. Less nicotine in cigarettes means more cigarettes will be smoked and more Americans will die. This decision is unconscionable.”
Andrews called for the FDA to embrace vaping as an alternative.
“Vape products contain the nicotine smokers crave but are at least 95% less harmful than combustible cigarettes,” he said. “It’s time for FDA to pay attention to the evidence.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The FDA has spent years working to slash nicotine content. Former Commissioner Scott Gottlieb took steps toward establishing a limit during the Trump administration, but that ended when he left the agency in 2019.
This story has been updated with responses from the FDA.
