For the first time, the federal government is proposing cutting the nicotine level in cigarettes so they aren't so addictive. The FDA has had the power since 2009 to regulate nicotine levels but hasn't done so. Tar and other substances inhaled through smoking make cigarettes deadly, but the nicotine in tobacco is what makes them addictive. The FDA announcement is great news, said Eric Donny, a University of Pittsburgh researcher who has studied what happens when smokers puff on cigarettes with lower levels of nicotine. Reducing nicotine doesn't make a cigarette safe, it just makes it less addictive," said Donny, director of Pitt's Center for the Evaluation of Nicotine in Cigarettes.

Source: ABC News July 28, 2017 17:59 UTC