Experts Push for Non-Addictive Cigarette Research

Tobacco-control experts are calling on the scientific community to make nicotine reduction their number-one research target for reducing smoking-related disease and death, the University of Minnesota reported in a press release Oct. 1.

The National Cancer Institute's Tobacco Harm Reduction Network, a group of researchers, policymakers, tobacco control advocates, and government representatives, studied the science behind tobacco addiction and came up with the joint recommendation for nicotine-reduction research.

Reducing nicotine to non-addictive levels could significant impact smoking-cessation rates, potentially reducing them by 5 percent, according to the group's findings. It could also dramatically reduce tobacco-related illnesses and deaths and help prevent young people who experiment with cigarettes from becoming addicted.

“Quitting tobacco can be as difficult to overcome as heroin or cocaine addiction,” said Dorothy Hatsukami, Ph.D., director of the University of Minnesota Tobacco Use Research Center, and co-chair of the network. “Studies have shown a significantly lower number of cigarettes are smoked when low-nicotine cigarettes are used, resulting in eventual abstinence in a considerable number of smokers.”

“Imagine a world where the only cigarettes that kids could experiment with would neither create nor sustain addiction,” said Mitch Zeller, J.D., of Pinney Associates in Bethesda, MD, and co-chair of the network. “The public health impact of this would be enormous if we can prevent youthful experimentation from progressing to regular smoking, addiction, and the resulting premature disease and death later.”

“Reducing the nicotine content in cigarettes may be a very effective way to accomplish this major impact,” said Zeller.

Details of the recommendation were published online Oct. 1 in Tobacco Research.