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A28 SCIENCE
Friday 20 december 2019
U.S. permits sale of cigarettes with 95% less nicotine

By MATTHEW PERRONE niques for reducing nico-
AP Health Writer tine, including chemical ex-
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. traction and cross-breed-
health officials on Tuesday ing plants.
endorsed a type of ciga- Williamsville, New York-
rette that could help ease based 22nd Century Group
the addictive grip of smok- plans to sell its cigarettes
ing by delivering very low under the brand name
levels of nicotine. Moonlight, in regular and
The Food and Drug Ad- menthol flavor.
ministration will allow 22nd Last year, the FDA began
Century Group to begin the process for regulat-
selling the first low-nicotine ing nicotine in cigarettes
cigarettes reviewed by fed- to make them minimally
eral health regulators. The or non-addictive. But the
products contain roughly agency recently dropped
95% less nicotine than stan- the nicotine plan from its list
dard cigarettes, according of regulatory priorities. And
to the FDA. tobacco companies have
Nicotine, which occurs signaled their opposition.
naturally in tobacco plants, The FDA has sponsored
is the addictive chemi- This Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019 photo shows a group of cigarettes in New York. several studies showing
cal that makes cigarettes, Associated Press that when smokers switch
chew and related products to low-nicotine cigarettes
so hard to quit. Past efforts chief, Mitch Zeller, noted The U.S. smoking rate has much success. Since then, they smoke less and are
to sell similar low-nicotine in a statement that 22nd fallen to an all-time low of most low-nicotine ciga- more likely to try quitting.
products have fallen flat. Century Group's products 14% of adults, or roughly rettes have been used for The research was consid-
Regulators stressed that are the first cigarettes to 34 million Americans. But research purposes to study ered pivotal to establishing
their ruling does not mean show the potential "to help smoking remains the lead- addiction in smokers. that smokers won't com-
the new products are safer reduce nicotine depen- ing cause of preventable Kenneth Warner, a tobac- pensate by smoking more
than regular cigarettes. The dence among addicted disease and death in the co expert at the Univer- cigarettes or inhaling more
agency noted there are smokers." U.S., responsible for some sity of Michigan's school of deeply if nicotine levels are
no safe tobacco products. The FDA is continuing to 480,000 deaths annually public health, called the low. That was sometimes
Cigarettes cause cancer, review a separate appli- Low-nicotine cigarettes are idea "good in concept," the case with "light" and
lung disease, stroke and cation from the company not a new idea. Philip Mor- but said he would be "as- "low tar" cigarettes market-
a number of other deadly on whether the cigarettes ris experimented with sell- tonished if there's much of ed in decades past. Those
diseases. present a reduced risk to ing a line of them in the U.S. a market for this." products were banned as
But the agency's tobacco smokers. in the late 1980s, without There are several tech- misleading.q

WHO sees tobacco drop among

men, but vaping effects unclear

By MIKE STOBBE larity of vaping devices has year and by 5 million by
AP Medical Writer had in diverting people 2025.
NEW YORK (AP) — World- from traditional smoking. The agency said the de-
wide, the number of men WHO officials said they cline is driven mainly by a
using traditional tobacco plan to release a report on decrease in the number of
products has finally started e-cigarette use early next males who exclusively use
to decline, health officials year. smokeless tobacco.
said Thursday. Researchers previously re- The WHO report found
Four out of five tobacco ported declines in male that countries in southeast
users globally are men, and female smoking rates Asia had the world's high-
so declines among males internationally, but the drop est rates of tobacco use
"mark a turning point in wasn't enough to offset the — 45% among males and
This Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019 photo shows a group of cigarettes in the fight against tobac- growth in world population. females age 15 and older.
New York.
Associated Press co," Dr. Tedros Adhanom The number of female to- But that percentage also
Ghebreyesus, head of the bacco users did shrink since is projected to decline, of-
World Health Organization, 2000, but the number of ficials said.
said in a statement. male tobacco users con- In a call with reporters, the
The agency's new report tinued to edge up, bringing WHO's Dr. Alison Commar
covers an array of tobacco the total to more than 1.3 noted that smokeless to-
use, including cigarettes, billion people. bacco use was once com-
cigars and chewing tobac- That appears to have mon among all women
co. changed last year, the in India and some other
But the WHO did not count agency said. Asian countries, but lately
electronic cigarettes as to- And the WHO now esti- it's mainly seen only in older
bacco products, and of- mates the number of male women.
ficials could not say what tobacco users will decline "It seems to be a dying tra-
impact the growing popu- by more than 1 million next dition," she said.q