The Biden administration is pursuing a regulatory change that could radically change smoking: forcing tobacco companies to reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to such a low level that it would no longer be addictive, The Wall Street Journal reported. Federal-funded research has shown that smokers are likely to quit low-nicotine cigarettes and switch to nicotine gum or e-cigarettes that do not contain substances that cause diseases related to half a million deaths a year in the United States. The tobacco industry was unused. Altria, who runs Marlboro, warned that the move could lead to “the growth of an illicit market” and labor costs. The Biden administration is also considering a possible ban on menthol cigarettes, which science has shown is harder to quit and is popular with younger smokers and black smokers.
Read it at The Wall Street Journal