FDA Announces Comprehensive Tobacco and Nicotine Regulatory Plan

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced a new comprehensive plan to regulate tobacco and nicotine as part of a multi-year roadmap to better protect children and significantly reduce tobacco-related disease and death. At the center of the FDA’s regulatory efforts is a focus on nicotine and the issue of addiction. The agency will work to lower nicotine amounts in cigarettes to non-addictive levels and explore the impact of other tobacco products, such as flavored tobacco items and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).

The FDA plans to initiate the regulatory plan process through public dialogue and public health input around lowering nicotine levels in cigarettes, approaches to regulating kid-appealing flavored tobacco products, and tobacco cessation safety and efficacy. Policy guidance and new enforcement policies around these same topics are also expected to be released as part of the agency’s plan. FDA’s announcement is available here; the agency also submitted an article describing its nicotine-based framework to the New England Journal of Medicine available here.