--- title: U.S. Seeks to Limit Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes description: The Biden administration said it will issue a new rule mandating tobacco companies cut nicotine levels in cigarettes. Here's what to know. canonical: https://time.com/6189735/nicotine-cigarettes-limit/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-06-22T13:37:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T14:24:33.238Z article:section: Health og:title: U.S. Seeks to Limit Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes og:description: It's a bid to reduce smoking-related deaths in the U.S. og:url: https://time.com/6189735/nicotine-cigarettes-limit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc1c612273b131f18/6988c136196cf4090403f856/time-health-stock-smoking-cigarette.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5616 og:image:height: 3159 og:image:alt: time-health-stock og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: U.S. Seeks to Limit Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes twitter:description: It's a bid to reduce smoking-related deaths in the U.S. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc1c612273b131f18/6988c136196cf4090403f856/time-health-stock-smoking-cigarette.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # U.S. Seeks to Limit Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Jonathan Roeder / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Jonathan Roeder / Bloomberg Contributor Jun 22, 2022 1:37 PM UTC  burning cigarette with smoke on black background burning cigarette with smoke on black backgroundGetty Images by [Jonathan Roeder / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Jonathan Roeder / Bloomberg Contributor Jun 22, 2022 1:37 PM UTC The Biden administration said it will issue a new rule mandating tobacco companies cut nicotine levels in cigarettes in a bid to reduce smoking-related deaths in the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration will draft a rule to remove most nicotine from cigarettes, according to a [notice](https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=202204&RIN=0910-AI76) of a proposed rule posted on the US Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. “Because tobacco-related harms primarily result from addiction to products that repeatedly expose users to toxins, FDA would take this action to reduce addictiveness to certain tobacco products, thus giving addicted users a greater ability to quit,” the administration said in the notice for the proposed rule. It said that smoking-related disease kills 480,000 people every year. In a separate statement, FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf said that “making cigarettes and other combusted tobacco products minimally addictive or non-addictive would help save lives.” Issuing the rule will be a lengthy process that will be contested by the tobacco industry. The Washington Post earlier reported that the administration was planning an announcement. Shares of Altria Group Inc., which sells Marlboro cigarettes in the US, rose 0.9% in New York trading on Tuesday, below the advance of the S&P 500 Index. In an emailed statement, Altria said the government’s focus “should be less on taking products away from adult smokers and more on providing them a robust marketplace of reduced harm FDA-authorized smoke-free products.” It added that the announcement “marks the start of a long-term process, which must be science-based and account for potentially serious unintended consequences.” Altria promotes heated tobacco products as a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes. Another company, 22nd Century Group Inc., last year received [regulatory approval](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-23/22nd-century-wins-fda-nod-to-promote-low-nicotine-cigarettes) to start advertising its cigarettes as having 95% less nicotine than traditional ones. Tobacco companies have argued in the past that removing nicotine isn’t possible, but their position holds less water now that 22nd Century has shown it can be done. _—With assistance from Josh Wingrove_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6189735/nicotine-cigarettes-limit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6189735/nicotine-cigarettes-limit/"},"headline":"U.S. Seeks to Limit Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes","datePublished":"2022-06-22T13:37:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T14:24:33.238Z","description":"It's a bid to reduce smoking-related deaths in the U.S.","url":"https://time.com/6189735/nicotine-cigarettes-limit/","keywords":["Public Health","wire","healthscienceclimate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc1c612273b131f18/6988c136196cf4090403f856/time-health-stock-smoking-cigarette.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jonathan Roeder / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc1c612273b131f18/6988c136196cf4090403f856/time-health-stock-smoking-cigarette.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"time-health-stock","caption":"burning cigarette with smoke TIME health stock","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6189735/nicotine-cigarettes-limit/","name":"U.S. Seeks to Limit Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes"}}]}] ```