The Biden administration has set their sites on yet another industry they intend to dismantle, potentially dismantling billions of dollars in national revenue and eliminating thousands of jobs.
The administration is trying to implement a new FDA rule that effectively bans nearly all nicotine in cigarettes. The aim is to reduce the number of smokers and achieve Biden’s “moonshot” to eliminate cancer.
https://twitter.com/ScottGottliebMD/status/1539437244435636226?s=20&t=V6gVNrutDSOtRk-T07q4Vg
According to The Wall Street Journal, “FDA officials said reducing nicotine in cigarettes to very low levels would prevent future generations from becoming addicted to cigarettes, and help current smokers to quit or switch to less-harmful alternatives.”
“According to an FDA study published in 2018, such a rule would prompt an additional 13 million adult smokers to quit within five years of implementation,” the report continues.
Tobacco companies have noted that the move could potentially eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs. According to industry statistics, just over 11,000 jobs could be at risk if the initiative is accomplished.
However, critics feel like Biden’s plan will fail.
Guy Bentley, director of consumer freedom at the Reason Foundation, told the Washington Post in a report that “the proposal would ban most cigarettes currently sold in America.”
Bentley noted, “Combined with the Biden administration’s proposed ban on menthol cigarettes, this would amount to an effort similar to the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s.” He told the Post that he could only see failure as an outcome of this newest Biden initiative.
Biden’s “moonshot” initiative would take years to enact and could easily be reversed under a future administration. Most likely, the initiative could lose to heavy lobbying by the $100 billion annual Tobacco industry.
The Biden administration's bid to essentially take the buzz out of smoking cigarettes would be unprecedented in the long-running public health fight to curb tobacco use.
But it's sure to face vigorous opposition from tobacco interests. https://t.co/OcmXvKBWhv
— Axios (@axios) June 22, 2022
Regardless of the possibility, Biden is pushing ahead and is not considering the impact on the economy, the job market, or the average American. It follows suit with his climate change initiatives that have driven gas prices to record highs, failing infrastructure management leading to supply chain failures, and much more.
