The Biden administration is poised to reduce the amount of nicotine in tobacco products, an 11th-hour effort that has been years in the making.
The move would give the White House one last chance to try to regulate cigarettes, as it had previously aimed to finalize a long-standing pledge to ban menthol-flavored cigarettes.
The rule has not been made public, so the exact wording is unclear, but it is expected to require tobacco companies to reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes and potentially other products to reduce dependence. has been done.
The drug could be released by the Food and Drug Administration as early as Monday after passing regulatory review earlier this month.
But that's just the beginning of a bureaucratic journey that anti-tobacco advocates worry could derail the incoming Trump administration.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease, death, and disability in the United States, killing more than 480,000 people each year. More than 16 million Americans live with a smoking-related illness.
According to the CDC, most adults who smoke want to quit, and half report trying to quit in the past year. Survey from September. However, fewer than 1 in 10 adults who smoke successfully quit smoking. Nicotine is highly addictive and changes people's brain chemistry, making them want to smoke more, which draws them back.
Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association, said, “Lowering nicotine levels will help millions of people quit smoking, prevent countless others from becoming addicted, and help families across America. This will protect people from the devastating consequences of tobacco-related illness and death.” The Hill.
Public health advocates said the policy has great potential if the Trump administration implements it. Setting a standard would be considered a major step forward, as no limits currently exist.
“If this is finalized, it will be a huge game-changer because kids who try tobacco products and smoke will not show the signs that they will become addicted for the rest of their lives.” said Erica Seward, Lang's assistant vice president for national advocacy. Association.
The FDA has been discussing plans to lower nicotine levels since the first Trump administration in 2018.
Under President Biden, the FDA announced in 2022 that it was developing a proposed rule on this issue, expected to be released in May 2023.
After more than a year and a half, the proposal is finally almost ready for publication.
By 2022, the FDA expects that lowering nicotine levels will prevent more than 33 million people from becoming regular smokers, approximately 5 million more smokers will quit within a year, and 134 million more people will stop smoking in congregate settings. I assumed it would be long.
Research shows that cigarettes with lower nicotine content may help reduce dependence on nicotine and alleviate some of the cravings associated with withdrawal.
In 2022, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said, “Reducing nicotine levels to minimally addictive or non-addictive levels will reduce the likelihood that future generations of young people will become addicted to cigarettes, This will encourage many smokers to quit smoking.”
There will be no immediate changes to tobacco products. This proposal is only a first step.
It is up to the Trump administration to write, issue, and enforce the final rule, but it is also possible that it could be rescinded.
“We think this is a very important step for public health, but there will be multiple efforts to either completely override the rule or enforce it, so this is really the first step. We clearly recognize that you cannot “go back, cancel, or delay.” And we will monitor it every step of the way,” said Avenel Joseph, interim executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
There has also been significant opposition from the tobacco industry, which has helped quell many other potential regulations.
tobacco Companies that made large donations President-elect Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, worked as a tobacco lobbyist.
“Tobacco companies have been fighting all sorts of rulemakings from the FDA related to their products, and anything they come up with every year that actually makes their products less effective as addictive tools. “It will take a huge amount of effort and money to defeat this virus,” Joseph added.
If this rule advances beyond the proposed stage, it will likely result in industry lawsuits alleging government overreach.
But public health advocates said that doesn't mean President Trump will rule out moving forward with the rules.
Although it didn't happen during his first term, the nicotine reduction is in line with the Make America Healthy Again movement championed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services. There is.
“As a nation, we're talking about chronic disease, and certainly the Trump administration has brought it to the forefront,” Seward said. “When you think about preventable chronic diseases and how Americans can become healthier, tobacco use comes first.”
“There are few actions that will have a greater impact on combating chronic diseases like cancer and cardiovascular disease that greatly impact America's health, and we suggest the next administration should make them a priority.” said Yolonda Richardson, president and CEO of the campaign. – Free Kids said in a statement to The Hill.
Meanwhile, conservative free-market groups and law enforcement say the proposal amounts to a ban on cigarettes and would increase the black market for illegal products.
“For all intents and purposes, [the rule will] Cigarettes should be unregulated and banned back into the illicit market,” said Diane Goldstein, executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership.
“When you enact a law that bans something, law enforcement becomes responsible for enforcing it. And… we believe that prohibition potentially does not serve its intended purpose of reducing smoking. I see it.”
Goldstein pointed to the proliferation of illegal products following FDA efforts to curb youth vaping.
“The ban does not affect people's behavior. They just go to underground markets to find what they need,” she said.
