Removing the nicotine from cigarettes could be bad science

On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced a bizarre proposal to cap the amount of nicotine in cigarettes. This change could see as much as 95 per cent of the total nicotine content removed, aiming to ‘save many lives and dramatically reduce the burden of severe illness and disability’, according to FDA Commissioner Robert Calliff.

Reducing the harms posed by cigarettes is a noble public health aim, but this particular measure is simply not based in fact.

Nicotine is the addictive component of cigarettes, but alone, it is relatively harmless. Cigarettes are harmful due to the products of combustion. Setting tobacco on fire produces carbon monoxide and tobacco tar, containing carcinogens that harm your body. According to the Royal Society for Public Health, nicotine is ‘no more harmful to health than caffeine’. This is generally accepted as fact.

So, what is the rationale behind Biden’s nicotine crackdown? FDA researchers reported in 2018 that by reducing the nicotine content of tobacco cigarettes by 95 per cent, the percentage of adult smokers could be lowered to 1.4