With 1,300 deaths per day in the US alone from the event of cigarette smoke , it ’s like having a 9/11 scourge attack every 2.2 day . So what ’s a nation to do ? Well , as announced by the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) , a potential answer may be to dramatically reduce the amount of dependency - beat back nicotine in cigarettes , thereby hitting the habit ’s Achilles ’ heel .

Referring to tackling tobacco enjoyment – in particular cigarette smoking – as one of the most important actions he could take to go on public health , FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb hasannouncedthat the proposal of marriage would trim down nicotine levels in combustible cigaret to “ minimally or non - habit-forming levels ” .

This represents a rather revolutionary step . Although limitation on how tobacco products are sold are in lieu in state all over the man , Voxnotes that America might become the first country in the world to wedge baccy companies to dial down the habit-forming potential of the production themselves .

According to Dr Gottlieb , this represent a “ pivotal step … that could at long last work us nearer to our vision of a man where combustible cigaret would no longer create or substantiate addiction . ”

An accompanying analysis in theNew England Journal of Medicineoutlines one such version of the proposition . create a complex model to appraise the effects on public health of make such minimally habit-forming cigarettes , a multidisciplinary squad estimated that there would be roughly 8.5 million few tobacco - caused decease by 2100 .

At the same time , within a year of the implementation of this policy , 5 million additional tobacco user would quit their wont . stretch this to 2100 , and 33 million people – particularly unseasoned adults , where the improver most frequently takes hold – would have been prevented from becoming regular smokers .

A business organisation some have raised is the vista of smokers just upping their consumption of butt to get their nicotine reparation , but the paper addressed that .

“ The policy would mandate an absolute reduction in nicotine to levels so low that there would not be enough nicotine available in cigarette baccy for stag party to suffer addiction , ” something they note is back up by multiplestudies . Incidentally , it appears thatbothgradual and immediate simplification in nicotine horizontal surface work out at cutting down smoke levels .

The paper also point out that smokers may stress to maintain their nicotine dependence by seek out “ illicit cigarettes ” , hinting at the founding of a pitch-dark market . At this point , there ’s not really enough evidence to say either way if such a market would come out , but in any typesetter’s case , the public wellness benefit of the insurance arguably overwhelms other less predictable concerns .

It ’s clean to say that , despiteeschewingstronger anti - smoking public wellness campaigns more than other nation , the issue of cigarette smokers in the US has go down sharply over the last century . As noted by theWashington Post , in 1965 , 42.4 percent of American adults fume ; that has since fall to 16.8 percent in 2014 .

Smoking , however , remains a scourge . harmonize to theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC ) , right now , more than 16 million Americans are live with an affliction triggered by smoking . Each twelvemonth , 480,000 American coffin nail smokers die of related malady , and an additional 41,000 perish from 2d - hand sess exposure .

Such a insurance proposal , then – which remains a proposal of marriage , not anything enforceable at this stage – would have undeniable , game - changing health benefits for both smokers and non - smoker . Smoking also costs the US around $ 300 billion in health costs and falter productivity each yr , so it ’d be a huge economic boon too .

Only metre will say if the raw policy works , and it ’ll for sure face potent resistance from the tobacco manufacture before it becomes de jure enforceable .