First recommended by a Trump-appointed FDA leader, multiple administrations have collaborated to snuff out this issue that costs the country $600 billion annually.
The FDA Wants To Shrink Nicotine Content in These 5 Products
Published on Jan. 21, 2025
Maybe you want to quit—in fact, national data in 2024 revealed that two-thirds of current smokers said they would like to give up smoking. While roughly half of smokers report having actually tried to quit within the last year, numbers suggest just one in 10 find themselves able to put down the habit for good.
That’s to their own benefit, as well as to the nation’s: The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stated that “cigarette smoking alone is estimated to kill nearly half a million people in the United States,” which “has been estimated to cost the country more than $600 billion annually in healthcare costs and lost productivity.”
No secret nicotine is to blame for the 90% who struggle to quit. Nicotine is the highly addictive chemical found in tobacco plants which is largely behind the compulsion to smoke. Amplifying its effect, the FDA says, “some tobacco products, like cigarettes, are designed to deliver nicotine to the brain within seconds, making it easier to become dependent on nicotine and more difficult to quit,” the FDA says.
That’s why the federal body is taking aim at nicotine. On January 15, 2025, the FDA issued a proposal to reduce the addictive effects of cigarettes and select other tobacco products by limiting the level of nicotine allowed in their formulation.
Though the new rules would not ban cigarettes or tobacco use, they would require companies to cap nicotine levels at 0.7 milligrams per gram of tobacco. For comparison, the American Cancer Society says the average cigarette currently contains around eight milligrams of nicotine. “If finalized,” says the FDA’s news release, “the United States would be the first country globally to take such a bold, life-saving action to prevent and reduce smoking-related disease and death.”
In total, five tobacco products would be affected by the FDA’s proposal:
- Cigarettes
- Cigarette tobacco
- Roll-your-own tobacco
- Most cigars (including little cigars, cigarillos, and most large cigars)
- Pipe tobacco
However, it’s said the proposal does not apply to:
- E-cigarettes
- Nicotine pouches
- Non-combusted cigarettes
- Waterpipe tobacco (hookah)
- Smokeless tobacco products
- Premium cigars
The FDA used data to develop a model that suggests by the year 2100, the proposed rules could prevent roughly 48 million youth and young adults from starting smoking. “The model also projects that more than 12.9 million people who smoke cigarettes would stop doing so one year after the rule becomes effective, including those who would completely switch to noncombusted tobacco products.”
The effort represents a public health proposal that’s garnering bipartisan support. Initially recommended in 2018 by Trump-appointed FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, the project was further elevated by Robert M. Califf, MD, his Biden-appointed successor. “Multiple administrations have acknowledged the immense opportunity that a proposal of this kind offers to address the burden of tobacco-related disease,” said Califf in the proposal’s announcement. “This action, if finalized, could save many lives and dramatically reduce the burden of severe illness and disability, while also saving huge amounts of money. I hope we can all agree that significantly reducing the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S. is an admirable goal we should all work toward.”
The FDA has requested public input on the proposal via a public forum which will be open until September 15, 2025. You can submit your comment using this online form, and it will be reviewed by the Health and Human Services Department.
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