Marlboro maker to FDA: Let us show nicotine not so bad

Marlboro maker Altria Group wants to enlist an unlikely partner — its regulator — in a bid to convince Americans that nicotine isn’t as bad as they think.

The company asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to tackle misperceptions about nicotine as part of a proposed $100 million advertising campaign to reduce the harm caused by tobacco, according to a letter seen by Bloomberg News.

That could be difficult, with about three-fourths of U.S. adults incorrectly believing nicotine causes cancer, Altria said in the communication, citing government research. Clearing up the drug’s health risks will be key to the agency reducing smoking because it will help convince cigarette users to switch to noncombustible options for nicotine, the company said.

Cigarette smoke contains at least 60 well-established carcinogens, but it’s been known for years that nicotine isn’t the direct cause of many of smoking’s ills. But nicotine is the ingredient that addicts people to tobacco.

The FDA “should commit resources and expertise to correct the deeply entrenched public misperceptions regarding the health risks of nicotine,” Paige Magness, Altria’s senior vice president of regulatory affairs, said in the letter dated Feb. 25. Such a campaign would help the agency by getting more smokers to use noncombustible offerings that “may present lower health risk,” according to the letter.

The FDA declined to comment. The agency uses much of those resources on targeting the health risks of products made by the likes of Altria. Its recent “Real Cost” ads say oral tobacco can cause mouth cancer, tooth loss, brown teeth and jaw pain, while “most vapes contain seriously addictive levels of nicotine.”

Altria has said nicotine products without smoke may be less risky. It’s been asking the FDA to regulate with that in mind for more than a decade, according to the letter.