The Biden Administration is considering policy changes requiring tobacco manufacturers to reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes, as well as a total ban on menthol cigarettes. Tobacco stocks were down on the rumors of the potential legislation.
The potential policy change was first reported on by the Wall Street Journal, which had spoken with an anonymous source. According to the report, the administration is pondering a policy that would reduce the maximum allowed amount of nicotine in cigarettes to below addictive levels.
A similar policy was pursued by the Trump Administration under Scott Gottlieb, though realizing them never quite happened, as Gottlieb left the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before it could be implemented. How far along the Biden administration's own policy is hasn't been disclosed yet, as the White House has yet to comment on the matter.
Coinciding with the potential nicotine restrictions, the Biden administration must also deal with the rapidly approaching deadline to address a citizen petition calling on the ban of menthol from cigarettes. The FDA is expected to decide by the deadline next Thursday, but which direction it plans to go in is up to speculation. While the FDA has been attempting to curb menthol use for years, lobbying by the tobacco industry has largely kept any regulation from being implemented.
Menthol, a compound found in mint that helps relieve irritation from smoke, is believed by the FDA to correlate with increased smoking in teens and young adults. The tobacco industry has also disproportionately marketed menthol cigarettes to the black community and is believed to have significantly contributed to disproportionately high cancer lung cancer rates in black men.
"For years, this has been an underdog issue that wasn't on the radar, but over time people have become educated and engaged. We are suing the FDA now to compel them to do what they were charged to do: to take menthol off the market," Carol McGruder of the African American Tobacco Leadership Council told the Washington Post.
Shares of major tobacco firms were down due to the report. Altria
