WASHINGTON — For the first time federal health regulators will permit the sale of new cigarettes that claim to reduce the addictive power of cigarettes already on the market. The Food and Drug Administration will now allow the sale of cigarettes containing very low levels of nicotine, the Associated Press reports.
Nicotine is the addictive chemical in tobacco, and new products from the 22nd Century Group contain about 95% less of it than the level in standard cigarettes, according to 22nd Century. The question now is if U.S. smokers will buy and use the products.
As the AP reports, past experiments selling similar products weren't very successful. The FDA also reminds the public that no cigarette is considered safe and points out that smoking is considered by health professionals to be the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.
In a release, 22nd Century group spoke of their Very Low Nicotine Content cigarettes, also referred to as "VLNC." 22nd Century says these cigarettes contain only "minimally or non-addictive levels of nicotine," and the group claims they will help "tens of millions of people to either stop smoking or to never develop the addiction to smoking."
22nd Century says that in independent clinical trials, it was shown that VLNC cigarettes allowed smokers to disconnect or disassociate with the habit of smoking, which is connected to the rapid consumption of nicotine.