Everyone knows that cigarettes can kill. Yet 36.5 million adults in the US still smoke.
So after requiring labels and warnings, restaurant bans, and advertising campaigns, the FDA is trying a simpler approach to helping people quit: regulating the amount of nicotine in cigarettes. If the FDA can do that, the change could make people actually want to quit, or at least switch to safer products like e-cigarettes.
Peruz Nazli sat on a bench in New York's Central Park with a pile of cigarette butts at her feet and said she was really happy to hear about the FDA's plan.
“It’s easier to quit,” said the 59-year-old retail worker, who started smoking at age 14. “People look at us differently.”
The new plan could upend the $130 billion U.S. tobacco industry. It would also likely trigger a fierce lobbying and legal battle in Washington, forcing the tobacco industry to develop products that rely less on carcinogenic combustibles and rely on delivering the full dose of nicotine through cleaner vapor. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tobacco-related illnesses cost the U.S. $300 billion a year.
Interviews with smokers in New York show that some have taken notice of the FDA’s proposal last week, but many still say they would rather switch to a different nicotine delivery device than smoke low-nicotine cigarettes. Some have already switched to e-cigarettes.
Half-hearted method
Kevin Clear, 36, who smoked his first cigarette when he was thirteen, switched to vaping three years ago on the advice of his doctor.
He first quit smoking three years ago, but returned to it a few months later due to stress from a breakup before he started vaping. Now he has never gone back to smoking, and uses vaping as a long-term solution.
“I'm sick of the smell and taste of cigarettes,” he said. “This is a safe and affordable alternative.”
For decades, US lawmakers have banned smoking in many public places, pushing smokers outside or into private corners. According to the CDC, smoking rates have dropped by a quarter since 1965, to about 15%. Teen smoking rates fell to just 5.5% in 2015.
Kids look at the smoker and say, “You’re crazy. What are you doing?” said Cleare, who used to work with juveniles in the New York City health department.
Reject vape
Smokers are still a large crowd.
Stepping out of his Mercedes Benz into a club in Brooklub, Trevoe Carter pulled out a cigarette. The car belonged to his daughter, and in the back seat was his grandson.
Carter, 68, has smoked for fifty years, a habit he finds harder to quit than cocaine and alcohol, both of which he has already quit.
“I tried, but I couldn’t quit,” Cartar said. But he also shared that he would not try e-cigarettes, but would try to quit in the most natural way.
According to the UK Tobacco and Alcohol Research Centre, e-cigarettes are 95% safer than cigarettes. E-cigarettes heat nicotine-containing liquid into a vapor. E-cigarette smoke does not contain carbon monoxide and tar, which are harmful to users' health. The FDA's new plan to encourage the use of e-cigarettes is to extend the PMTA submission deadline to September 2022, giving tobacco companies time to develop alternative products.
Times change
After the FDA announcement, the stock prices of tobacco companies such as BAT, Altria Group... suddenly dropped sharply, reflecting to investors that their companies were not yet ready for the new era.
Vivien Azer, a drug analyst at Cowen & Co who has long followed the industry, said that despite falling sales, companies are trying to adapt with new products that are more potent than fire and leaf.
“Everyone is leaning towards HNB technology,” she said.
Source: Taylor Cromwell and Justin Mattingly
Translated by: The Vape Club
