The Public Health Gains Had Cigarette Companies Chosen to Sell Very Low Nicotine Cigarettes.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed lowering the nicotine content of cigarettes to a minimally addictive level to increase smoking cessation and reduce initiation. This study has two aims: (1) to determine when cigarette manufacturers had the technical capability to reduce cigarette nicotine content and (2) to estimate the lost public health benefits of implementing a standard in 1965, 1975, or 1985.

Methods

To determine the technical capability of cigarette companies, we reviewed public patents and internal cigarette company business records using the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents. To evaluate the impact of a very low nicotine content cigarette (VLNC) standard on smoking attributable deaths (SADs) and life-years lost (LYLs), we applied a

SUBMITTER: Levy DT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7885770 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature