Low Nicotine Cigarette: Will It Help smokers stop?
Nicotine is highly addictive. A study found that smokers try to quit on average 30 times or more before they’re able stop for 1 year or longer.
Although many tools are available to help smokers quit, lowering the nicotine level is seen as another option.
Reduced nicotine cigarettes have been on the market for decades, but the two new cigarettes have an even lower nicotine content: 0.2 to 0.7 milligrams Trusted Source per cigarette. Conventional cigarettes contain 10 to 14 milligrams nicotine per cigarette.
Before approval, a “rigorous science-based review” of 22nd Century Group’s applications for these products. But the agency said this doesn’t mean they’re safe.
“Consumers should be aware that this is not a safer cigarette in terms of cancer risks or lung health,” said Lynn T. Kozlowski, PhD, a professor of community health and health behavior at the University at Buffalo.
“Reduced nicotine cigarettes are tobacco cigarettes that reduce or eliminate nicotine-based effects of smoking,” Kozlowski said, “but otherwise they are tobacco cigarettes that are as toxic as regular tobacco cigarettes.”
This is something many people aren’t aware of.
Another study also found that almost half of smokers incorrectly believed that very low nicotine cigarettes were less likely to cause cancer than typical cigarettes. People who thought this also said they’d be less likely to quit.