DESIGNER

Giselle Lund

PROFILE/DESCRIPTION

Article text courtesy of nytimes.com 

Title: The Hard Truth About Nicotine

Nearly 29 million Americans regularly smoke cigarettes, a drastic decline from 1964, when more than 40 percent of adults smoked and the surgeon general first linked tobacco to cancer. Still, that’s a lot of people hooked on nicotine. In an effort to end these addictions and prevent new ones, the Food and Drug Administration in the Biden administration’s last days proposed a plan that, if finalized, would require tobacco companies to reduce the level of nicotine in their cigarettes to doses below those associated with addiction.

Slashing nicotine levels in cigarettes could save millions of lives. But it creates a conundrum for regulators. If they make cigarettes less satisfying without offering appealing alternatives, smokers who can’t quit may turn to illicit markets. At the same time, regulators fear that the very products that help smokers quit — such as vapes or oral nicotine pouches — also attract young people. In response, the F.D.A. has imposed strict regulations on these products, banning flavors and slowing the approval of new vapes (also known as e-cigarettes). As a result, most vapes sold in the United States are unauthorized, posing safety risks to users. Many are imports from China.