The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed that nicotine levels in cigarettes be limited to non-addictive levels.
If such a decision is made, it would be the first in the world, which could drastically reduce the number of smokers and affect the income of the tobacco industry, Tanjug reported, referring to Reuters.
According to the FDA, it will save lives by preventing smoking-related illnesses and deaths caused by toxic chemicals produced during the combustion of tobacco.
It is proposed to limit the level of nicotine, a chemical that keeps smokers addicted, to 0.7 milligrams per gram of tobacco in cigarettes and other combustible products, such as cigars and rolling tobacco.
Alternatives such as vapes, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco would not be affected by this decision.
“By reducing nicotine levels to a value low enough to no longer create or maintain addiction, exposure to these toxic chemicals can be stopped,” said Director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products Bryan King.
He added that this limit would be about 95 percent lower than the nicotine concentration in cigarettes currently on the market. The agency predicts that this could prevent 48 million young people from starting to smoke, and that more than 12.9 million smokers would stop smoking already within a year of the decision coming into force.
The FDA, which regulates nicotine products, first floated such an idea in 2017, Aljazeera reports.
(Vijesti.ba)
