The United States could force tobacco giants to reduce by one third the nicotine content of cigarettes. A public health measure, aimed at making them less addictive. The tobacco companies are already ready to launch a counter-offensive in court.
FROM 1,5 MG TO 0,3 OR 0,5 MG BY CIGARETTE TO THE UNITED STATES!
Donald Trump's United States is not exactly known to be the country with the most regulations of all kinds. And here comes a proposal that would force the tobacco giants to reduce the nicotine content of cigarettes: « Probably the most important public health initiative of the century », As the Washington Post.
Nicotine could drop from 1,5 milligrams to between 0,3 and 0,5 milligrams per cigarette sold on American soil. The goal: to make them less addictive, and to reduce the number of 500 deaths from tobacco per year in the country (nearly 000 million worldwide).
A DECLARATION OF WAR THAT CAUSES A REACTION TO WALL STREET 
The news, announced last July by Scott Gottlieb, the chief of the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), in charge of the control of the food and the drugs, created a shock wave on Wall Street, seat of the American stock exchange. Shares of tobacco giant Altria (formerly Philip Morris) were down 19% on the day of the announcement.
« Cigarettes are the only legal consumer product that, when used as planned, will kill half of its users in the long run »he recalled in mid-March, revealing more precisely the plan of the agency.
For decades, public authorities have tried to convince smokers to obtain their nicotine in other ways, whether it be with chewing gum or anti-smoking patches. Electronic cigarettes are, according to initial studies, also less harmful to health. By drastically reducing the level of nicotine in cigarettes, the goal of the FDA is to ensure that smokers turn away massively to prefer these other products and that young people do not touch cigarettes. « By the year 2100, analyzes show that cutting back on nicotine could prevent 33 million people from becoming regular smokers » says Scott Gottlieb.
While the initiative is generally supported by health professionals, some fear that smokers will smoke a lot more, to regain their level of nicotine of yesteryear. Others fear that a black market for imported cigarettes will come into place.
But the FDA's battle may be tough on the tobacco industry and its powerful congressional lobbies. Lawyers for Big Tobacco "Can sue the law by arguing that the new law is de facto a ban on cigarettes which is outside the FDA's jurisdiction. According to a member of Donald Trump's cabinet, the White House supports Scott Gottlieb's approach. For the time being.
Source : Ouest-france.fr
