Informed sources confirm that the administration of US President Joe Biden is considering issuing a decision requiring tobacco companies to reduce the level of nicotine in all cigarettes sold in the United States to levels that make them non-addictive, and this coincides with the approaching final decision on banning menthol cigarettes.

In a report published by the American Wall Street Journal, Captain Jennifer Maloney says that the US Food and Drug Administration is preparing to present its response in court on April 29th to a petition filed by a number of citizens to ban menthol cigarettes. Peppermint oil) is considered a type of secondary alcohol.

The White House and the US Food and Drug Administration did not provide any comments.

The nicotine reduction policy - which is currently under study - is based on reducing the chemical in cigarettes to levels that do not cause addiction, or cause minimum levels, with the aim of helping millions of smokers to quit smoking or use less harmful alternatives such as nicotine gum or e-cigarettes, while Banning menthol cigarettes aims to reduce the phenomenon of early smoking among young people, but implementing such decisions may take years and is likely to face legal challenges, according to the author.

New Zealand last week proposed reducing levels of nicotine in cigarettes to high levels and raising the legal age for smoking, as part of a policy aimed at reducing the number of smokers in the country.

Legal battle

According to the US Food and Drug Administration, nicotine does not cause cancer, heart disease or lung disease by itself, but it does lead to cigarette addiction that kills 480,000 people in the United States annually.

And on the back of reports on decisions the Biden administration might make, shares of the Altria Group, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, fell more than 6% on Monday afternoon.

In this context, a company spokesperson stated, “Any action taken by the Food and Drug Administration must be based on science and deterministic evidence, and must take into account potential consequences, including the growth of an illicit market and the impact on hundreds of thousands of jobs on farms and stores across all industries. Over the country. "

Research funded by the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health has shown that when the level of nicotine in cigarettes is reduced, smokers become more able to quit nicotine, and more willing to treat and less harmful alternatives such as e-cigarettes and chewing gum, compared to smokers who have persisted in smoking. Smoking cigarettes that contain normal nicotine levels.

Reducing the level of nicotine in cigarettes has been the subject of controversy within the Food and Drug Administration since the 1990s, and one of the suggested ways to achieve this is by using genetically modified tobacco plants or extracting nicotine from the leaves during the manufacturing process.

In 2009, the Tobacco Control Act granted the US Food and Drug Administration the power to impose a reduction in the level of nicotine in cigarettes, but on the condition that this is based on scientific evidence.

Dangerous menthol

The Tobacco Control Act prohibited adding candy, fruits, and spices to cigarettes due to the risk of this for children, but the matter was not settled with regard to menthol.

The law emphasized that the Food and Drug Administration can only ban menthol if it can demonstrate that the ban is a clear public health benefit, taking into account potential consequences, such as the emergence of an illegal market.

Since then, the department has been working to overcome this hurdle by funding research on menthol's dangers.

In 2013, the Food and Drug Administration concluded that menthol may pose a greater health risk than regular cigarettes, but said that it is difficult to quit, as health officials in the administration confirmed - through research - that menthol relieves throat irritation caused by smoking this type of Cigarettes, making young people more demanding.