WASHINGTON — Federal health officials took the first step Thursday to drastically cut nicotine levels in cigarettes so they aren’t addictive.
The Food and Drug Administration estimated that its sweeping anti-smoking plan, first announced last summer, could push the U.S. smoking rate to 1.4 percent. Now about 15 percent of U.S. adults smoke.
Another f-ing case of govt sticking their nose in our business– I smoked for 25 years and when i realized it was starting to affect my health I quit!! I realized it was more of a habit that an addiction
BEWARE OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES.
What this policy is more likely to do is to help addict an new generation to cigarettes. I wonder if anybody talked to Nora Volkow at NIDA, or any other addiction expert familiar with tobacco addiction research.
#1 Erroneously believing that low nicotine cigarettes are safe, adults will be less likely to quit, while teens will more more likely to start.
#2 Even in small doses, nicotine remains neurotoxic and addictive.
#3 Past studies have shown that smokers given low nicotine cigarettes inhale deeper and smoke more cigarettes – probably to stave off withdrawal effects. How could Big Tobacco oppose that? Increased sales, and future generations of customers in the bargain.