Tobacco shares nosedive on FDA regulation warning

But they’re also a little cautious and saying, you know, we’re a little anxious that this could become kind of an excuse to delay the e-cigarette rules without ever getting around to actually cutting the amount of nicotine in cigarettes.

Finally, the FDA also hints that it will make the regulatory process easier and faster for manufacturers versus the long process anticipated from last year’s announcement.

It would be the first time in the agency’s history that it has sought to regulate the amount of nicotine in cigarettes. The deaths are due to the numerous issues associated with cigarette smoking, including heart disease, lung cancer, asthma, and Alzheimer’s disease. Other chemical compounds on tobacco and in the smoke created by burning tobacco are directly responsible for causing illness and death, he said. But dropping the nicotine level immediately is key, he said, because gradually lowering nicotine could lead to problems like causing smokers to smoke more. The unexpected announcement sent shares of tobacco companies plummeting and sparked praise among some public health advocates. It gave the agency the ability to regulate electronic cigarettes – as well as hookahs and e-liquids – the same way it regulates combustible cigarettes.

“This was a big surprise and will make it imperative that domestic tobacco companies strive to develop innovative, safer products”, said Jack Russo, an analyst with Edward Jones & Co who follows the tobacco industry.

The FDA said that tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in America, causing more than 480,000 deaths every single year.

A study in the BMJ this week adds to evidence that e-cigarettes help smokers quit their addiction.

In addition, the FDA is delaying implementation of last year’s rules on cigars and e-cigarettes now on the market until 2021 and 2022, respectively.

“We’ve long believed the FDA taking a more comprehensive approach toward nicotine was a natural next step”.

During an April hearing on whether to advance his nomination for the FDA position, he said some e-cigarettes may have the potential to wean smokers off combustible cigarettes and be less harmful.

More than half of the smoking-related deaths (52.2%) in 2015 took place in just four countries – China, India, the USA and Russian Federation.

The FDA is looking to methods of lowering the levels of nicotine in cigarettes, in the hope it will lessen levels of addiction to the harmful habit. Reynolds American, a division of British American Tobacco, said it was encouraged by the move and that the FDA had recognised “tobacco harm-reduction policies and the continuum of risk for tobacco products”.

The FDA insists that it intends to examine the possibility of regulating these flavors, which are also used in some cigars, and that it even plans to ban menthol in all products containing tobacco. Nicotine concentrations in the tobacco of bidis (21.2 mg / gm) are significantly higher than the concentrations in manufactured filtered (16.3 mg / gm) and unfiltered cigarettes (13.5 mg / gm).

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the agency plans to explore ways to limit the amount of nicotine in cigarettes.