Houston Health Dept. Supports Lower Nicotine Level In Cigarettes

HOUSTON, TX — The Federal Drug Administration has announced a plan to lower the level of nicotine in cigarettes in an attempt to curb addiction and hopefully lower the amount of nicotine-related deaths. The Houston Health Department supports this change in full earnest.

“The long-term positive public health impact of this plan is extraordinary,” said Dr. David Persse, City of Houston Local Health Authority. “Making cigarettes less additive would not only serve as a catalyst for weaning current smokers off the habit, it would also help prevent those experimenting with cigarettes from getting hooked.”

The FDA estimates about 5 million more people would quit smoking within the first year of the change. About 15 percent of Americans smoke, contributing to more than 480,000 deaths each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tobacco use is the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States.

“Smokers are not the only people affected by the overwhelming pain and suffering caused by tobacco use,” Dr. Persse continued. “The emotional agony of those who see the lives of their loved ones slowly slip away is heartbreaking.”

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. had this to say Thursday about the reasoning behind the proposed changes.

"When I returned to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year, it was immediately clear that tackling tobacco use – and cigarette smoking in particular – would be one of the most important actions I could take to advance public health," Gottlieb said.

"With that in mind, we’re taking a pivotal step today that could ultimately bring us closer to our vision of a world where combustible cigarettes would no longer create or sustain addiction – making it harder for future generations to become addicted in the first place and allowing more currently addicted smokers to quit or switch to potentially less harmful products."

For more information about the FDA proposal, visit www.fda.gov.

(Photo by David McNew/Getty Images for Arroyo Seco Weekend)