The data was released by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the research conducted in conjunction with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The collected data indicated that in 2015, one in five adults, equating to an alarming 49 million people, were tobacco users. From these, 87% consumed some form of deadly combustible tobacco, whilst the other 13% used safer alternatives including e-cigarettes or smokeless products such as snuff or snus.
“These results make clear that more action is needed to reduce the disease and death caused by cigarette use – and the FDA has announced a comprehensive approach to do just that,” said FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb.
FDA says new tobacco plan could prevent 8 million deaths
On Friday the 28th of July, the FDA announced a new comprehensive plan for tobacco and nicotine regulation, which included lowering the amount of nicotine in cigarettes in order to minimize addiction.
During a tobacco discussion at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health which took place the following October, the FDA Commissioner said that the agency’s latest estimates indicated that reducing nicotine levels in combustible cigarettes could prevent 8 million smoking related deaths. Additionally, a significant further 30 million people could be safeguarded from becoming addicted to smoking. “Just imagine the impact this policy could have on treatment costs,” said Gottlieb.
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