Cigarette nicotine reduction now off the table

U.S. regulators are hitting the brakes on plans to force tobacco companies to drastically reduce addictive nicotine in cigarettes, retreating on an ambitious publichealth initiative that comes amid increasing worry about nicotine use among young people.

The Department of Health and Human Services has dropped a proposal unveiled two years ago to cut the level of nicotine in cigarettes to nonaddictive levels, according to a regulatory document published Wednesday.

Abandoning the plan, which almost certainly would have meant a sharp reduction in tobacco sales, would be a major victory for the tobacco industry. The move also comes at a time when public debate is focused on the potential for ecigarettes to create a new generation of nicotine addicts.

Representatives for the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a notice posted on a government website earlier this year as part of the Food and Drug Administration’s near-term regulatory goals, the agency said that the policy “would have significant public health benefits for youth, young adults, and adults, as well as potentially vast economic benefits.”

That goal, once included as part of the “unified agenda” of regulations the government is working on, no longer is listed on the website, which was updated Wednesday as part of a semiannual review.

In 2017, then-FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said he wanted to reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes and other burnt tobacco to near-zero. Almost half a million people in the U.S. die each year from tobacco-related causes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the move was hailed at the time as a potentially monumental public-health decision.

It also shocked Wall Street, sending stocks of tobacco giants including Altria Group Inc. plunging as investors reconsidered whether people would bother smoking a cigarette without the addictive chemical. The move was paired with a decision — later reversed — to give e-cigarette makers extra time to keep their products on the market without regulation.

Gottlieb left the FDA before the nicotine policy could be seen through. Altria later bought a $12.8 billion stake in e-cigarette market leader Juul Labs Inc., a hedge against declining smoking rates.

Recently, some administration officials have questioned the FDA’s role in regulating tobacco. Joe Grogan, the head of the White House Domestic Policy Council, earlier this month called the FDA’s regulation of tobacco “a huge waste of time” and said the agency should focus on pharmaceuticals.