Public Health Leaders Urge FDA to Issue Final Rule for Reducing Nicotine in Cigarettes by March 2019 - Seite 2

The authors call for the FDA to act with a “sense of urgency commensurate with the [lifesaving] potential” of reducing nicotine to minimally or non-addictive levels. Citing independent clinical studies made possible through the use of 22nd Century’s proprietary SPECTRUM research cigarettes, the authors remind the FDA that “very low nicotine cigarettes [show] the absence of compensatory smoking, as well as demonstrable reductions in cigarettes smoked per day and [reductions] in exposure to harmful smoking constituents.”

“Noting that the major tobacco companies have a long history of manipulating nicotine levels in cigarettes to make them more addictive, in their open letter to Dr. Gottlieb, dozens of highly respected public health leaders urge the FDA to issue – in less than one year’s time – its final rule on mandating very low levels of nicotine in cigarettes,” explained Henry Sicignano, III, President and Chief Executive Officer of 22nd Century Group. “22nd Century’s Very Low Nicotine (VLN^TM) tobacco makes possible the FDA’s plan to render all cigarettes sold in the U.S. minimally or non-addictive. We urge the FDA to move forward, aggressively, to issue its final rule in this public health imperative so that millions of lives might be saved.”

About 22nd Century Group, Inc.

22nd Century is a plant biotechnology company focused on technology which allows it to increase or decrease the level of nicotine in tobacco plants and the level of cannabinoids in hemp/cannabis plants through genetic engineering and plant breeding. The Company’s primary mission in tobacco is to reduce the harm caused by smoking. The Company’s primary mission in hemp/cannabis is to develop proprietary hemp strains for important new medicines and agricultural crops. Visit www.xxiicentury.com and www.botanicalgenetics.com for more information.

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