It started with a plan to curb deaths from tobacco. In 2017, under then-Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, the Food and Drug Administration announced an ambitious comprehensive plan to address smoking and nicotine addiction.
At the heart of the plan were two key strategies. One was to render cigarettes less appealing by mandating that they contain extremely low levels of nicotine. This would make them less addictive for both new and existing smokers. The second was to ensure that smokers have a viable off-ramp to other, safer sources of nicotine, such as e-cigarettes.
Both aspects of the plan were essential. If nicotine was reduced in cigarettes without the widespread availability of safer alternatives, smokers might instead switch to other forms of combustible tobacco or seek cigarettes that are sold illicitly. “To be successful all of these steps must be done in concert and not in isolation,” Gottlieb said at the time.
Jacob Grier – Slate – 2022-06-23.
