In Biden administration's final days, FDA advances proposal to set a nicotine limit on tobacco products

Source: CNN Health

Published 6:09 PM EST, Wed December 11, 2024


CNN — As the Biden administration winds down, the US Food and Drug Administration has submitted a proposed rule that could significantly lower the amount of nicotine in tobacco products and potentially prompt more people to quit smoking.

The FDA has been signaling its intentions to limit nicotine levels at least since 2018, during the first Trump administration. In 2022, President Joe Biden’s FDA commissioner, Dr. Robert Califf, took it a step further and announced that the agency was developing a rule that would require tobacco companies to significantly reduce the amount of nicotine in traditional cigarettes.

The next regulatory step, which the FDA took Tuesday by submitting the proposal to the Office of Management and Budget, would not mean overnight change. But if the government did set a limit on nicotine levels, experts say, it could significantly improve public health.

“A proposed product standard to establish a maximum nicotine level to reduce the addictiveness of cigarettes and certain combusted tobacco products, when finalized, would be among the most impactful population-level actions in the history of US tobacco product regulation,” the FDA said in a statement Wednesday.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/11/health/fda-tobacco-nicotine-limit/index.html