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US government controls on nicotine levels in cigarettes could have the unintended effect of pushing smokers to use more cigarettes and inhale more deeply, warns Dr Andrew von Eschenbach, head of the Food and Drug Administration.
Stop smoking Centre
Last month, a bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced legislation that would give the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco, including the power to order lower nicotine levels in cigarettes, the Associated Press reported.
But if the FDA ordered a cut in cigarette nicotine levels, smokers would alter their smoking habits in order to maintain their current levels of the addictive substance, von Eschenbach said in an interview Tuesday with the AP.
"We could find ourselves in the conundrum of having made a decision about nicotine only to have made the public health radically worse. And that is not the position FDA is in; we approve products that enhance health, not destroy it," Eschenbach said. – (HealthDayNews)
Read more:Stop smoking Centre
March 2007
