FDA says cut nicotine in cigarettes

[asunshin]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070524/ap_on_he_me/tobacco

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By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer 47 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The
Food and Drug Administration should regulate tobacco and develop a plan to reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes, the Institute of Medicine urged Thursday.
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Its report calls on Congress and the president to give FDA the authority to enforce standards for nicotine reduction and to regulate companies' claims that their products reduce exposure or risk.

"We propose aggressive steps to end the tobacco problem — that is, to reduce tobacco use so substantially that it is no longer a significant public health problem. This report offers a blueprint for putting the nation on a course for achieving that goal over the next two decades," said Richard J. Bonnie, director of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy at the University of Virginia School of Law. Bonnie was chairman of the committee that prepared the report.

"Unfortunately, cigarettes are one of the most dangerous consumer products ever marketed," Bonnie said at a briefing.


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With all the junk they put in mass-market-cigarettes to make them more toxic than they naturally are, and they want to reduce the *nicotine*?? For some people, nicotine may be beneficial.

 

[Niall]

I was wondering how they were going to squeeze smoking tighter.

*Smacks forehead* Of course!! They're going after nicotine the same way as vitamin and nutritional supplements, by setting industry-standards that are based on flawed research and unproven assumptions (Codex Alimentarius regulations devised by the WHO in conjunction with Big Pharma)

 

[Azur]

Yes, forget about all the related health effects of smog and other pollutants that goes uncontrolled, or tolerated at incredibly toxic levels. Forget that it takes somewhere close to 9 gallons of water to make a single McDonald's Happy Meal plastic toy, when there's supposedly a coming fresh water crisis. (I understand that these are probably made in China; any other example of plastics and other crucial things that brings in consumers manufactured in the U.S. applies).

These things are all minor compared to people smoking cigarettes.

And who benefits? If you are in the U.S. with no public health care, the patient pays the costs of the care anyway, no?. If insured, the insurance coverage cost three times as much to offset the potential risk, so it can't be to save money.

 

[Dan]

I am positive that this has something to do with more than just Our Benevolent Government wishing to protect the sheeple . Could it have something to do with the Article from SOTT: Aliens Don't Like to Eat People That Smoke! Maybe they want a Low Nicotine Flavor. Makes you wonder? What's for Dinner?

 

[Azur]

What was that Twilight Zone episode?

Everybody misunderstood the meaning of the Book title: "How to serve Humans".

:)

 

[dj]

It's an interesting point that the focus appears to be on reducing nicotine and ignoring the other components associated with smoking.

In effect, they want to take out the only thing with real value in smoking (or so it appears to me, although the carbon monoxide can raise the red cell count quite nicely, as Laura has pointed out) and leave in the tars, pesticides, chemical additives, etc.

Several times in the last couple of years I've read that someone or other is studying the medical uses of nicotine (ie for heart, guts, mind, etc) but nothing ever seems to come of it - maybe in part because big pharma hasn't figured out how to patent a brand-name nicotine, maybe partly because it works too well, too cheaply.

 

[Al Today]

What was that Twilight Zone episode?

Everybody misunderstood the meaning of the Book title: "How to serve Humans".

:)

It is called 'How to Serve Man'.

Grow your own tobacco, food, gather nuts & berries, and find a good natural spring for water.
Spring water just needs getting used to. A natural spring has got to be better that any gubement water plant that recycles human waste & dumps in all those exotic chemicals to 'treat' the water.

 

[dant]

Al Today:

Almost! it's "To Serve Man"
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serve_Man_(The_Twilight_Zone)

 

[Azur]

Thank you both.

 

[Al Today]

Al Today:

Almost! it's "To Serve Man"
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serve_Man_(The_Twilight_Zone)

Thank You.
I stand corrected.