The Food and Drug Administration said it is proposing reducing the maximum nicotine levels in cigarettes to minimally or nonaddictive levels.
The FDA said that the plan would make cigarettes and other tobacco products not so addictive and the organization believes reduced nicotine content cigarettes will not cause smokers to compensate for lower nicotine by smoking more.
The FDA said it is proposing to cap the nicotine level at 0.7 milligrams per gram of tobacco in cigarettes, which is significantly lower than the average concentration in products on the market currently.
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Presently, cigarettes generally have between 1.1 and 1.7 milligrams of nicotine per gram of tobacco.
“Today, we’re taking a critical step in the rulemaking process by providing the public with a proposal they can review and engage on,” said Brian King, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “This proposal allows for the start of an important conversation about how we meaningfully tackle one of the deadliest consumer products in history and profoundly change the landscape of tobacco product use in the United States.”
The proposal would go through a period of public comment before final rulemaking. The Trump administration would have to sign off on the changes.
Tobacco usage in the U.S. has declined significantly over the years. In 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 11.6% of adults used cigarette products. In 2005, 20.9% were estimated to smoke cigarettes.
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Despite reduced smoking rates, tobacco is still a significant cause of premature death in the U.S., the CDC says. The agency estimates that cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States, which equals one out of every five deaths.
