Posted ,
Reading 1 min.
The US Agency for Medicines and Health Products, the FDA, announces that it wants to drastically reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes sold in the United States. Objective: to fight against addiction and against the many deaths linked to this product.
In addition to administering drugs, the Food and Drug Administration regulates the tobacco market in the United States. It has just announced its intention to change the rules regarding the amount of nicotine in cigarettes. She is soon to officially announce the changes she is proposing as part of a vast health program aimed at reducing the number of cancer deaths. President Joe Biden has promised to reduce that figure by 50% over 25 years.
A way to fight addiction
These changes will almost certainly be challenged by the country’s tobacco industry and the process is expected to take several years, but the FDA seems determined. “Nicotine is highly addictive” recalls Robert Califf, head of the American agency, in a press release. “Making cigarettes and other burnt tobacco products minimally or non-addictive would help save lives.”.
Already in April 2021, the FDA had committed to ban the sale of menthol cigarettes, which are often a gateway to smoking for the youngest.
Consult a GP online
A possible measure in France?
In France too, smoking is a scourge with no less than 75,000 deaths per year.
For Dr. Bernard Basset, president of the association Addictions France, this decision is “a very good thing”. “Nicotine is the addictive substance. It causes smokers to develop cancer and die from it, because of their addiction to tobacco. This measure is one of those which make it possible to fight against tobacco and which can be a game-changer.” he adds.
Is this a measure that could happen in France? “We hope that this news will open the debate on the issue in France. Anyway, that’s a question that will have to be answered at some point.”.