Biden Unveils Last-Minute FDA Proposal To Lower Cigarette Nicotine Levels

In the final days of the Biden-Harris administration, the Food and Drug Administration announced a proposed rule to reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes to decrease the addictiveness of combustible tobacco products. The news sent tobacco stocks marginally lower in the cash session. 

The proposed rule (RIN 0910-AI76), "Tobacco Product Standard for Nicotine Yield of Cigarettes and Certain Other Combusted Tobacco Products," aims to slash nicotine in cigarettes to approximately .7 milligrams per gram of tobacco. 

"FDA is proposing this action to reduce the addictiveness of these products, thus giving people who are addicted and wish to quit the ability to do so more easily," the FDA wrote in the proposed rule, adding, "The proposed product standard is anticipated to benefit the population as a whole." 

Major tobacco stocks, including Philip Morris International, Altria Group, and British American Tobacco, were each down around half a percent in the early afternoon cash session. 

"Multiple administrations have acknowledged the immense opportunity that a proposal of this kind offers to address the burden of tobacco-related disease," FDA commissioner Robert M. Califf wrote in a statement. 

Califf continued, "This action, if finalized, could save many lives and dramatically reduce the burden of severe illness and disability, while also saving huge amounts of money."

Whether the incoming Trump administration will allow the proposal to move forward remains unclear, given Reynolds American donated $8 million to Trump's main super PAC during the prior election cycle.

Meanwhile, anti-tobacco advocates have been furious with the Biden-Harris team for its notable failure to ban menthol cigarettes before the election. Such a ban would've sparked a political backlash among Black voters - something Democrats tried to avoid. 

Reynolds American spokesman Luis Pinto told the New York Times that the new proposed rule, in draft form, is a major threat to the industry and would "effectively eliminate legal cigarettes and fuel an already massive illicit nicotine market."