FDA proposes sweeping limits on nicotine in cigarettes

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a sweeping proposal Wednesday to try to make cigarettes less addictive by lowering the amount of nicotine they contain, an 11th-hour plan from the Biden administration that will take years to go into effect, if it happens at all.

The move gives the White House one last chance to try to regulate tobacco, as it previously punted on finalizing a long-standing pledge to ban menthol-flavored cigarettes. 

The FDA in the proposal estimated that if implemented, nicotine reduction would help nearly 13 million additional people to quit smoking cigarettes within one year after implementation. The estimate would rise to 19.5 million additional people within five years of implementation, FDA said.

The proposal would cap nicotine at levels that “could no longer create and sustain this addiction among people who smoke," FDA said. 

The rule was released online Wednesday, but that only begins a bureaucratic journey that anti-tobacco advocates worry an incoming Trump administration may derail. 

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