A bioengineering company has applied to the FDA for permission to advertise its very-low-nicotine VLNTM cigarettes as delivering up to 95 percent less nicotine to a smoker’s bloodstream than their regular cigarettes.
A BusinessWire news story dated March 27 says that 22nd Century developed a new product that significantly reduced inhaled nicotine, as well as the desire to smoke, in smokers who participated in a company-funded study.
In the study, on different days smokers could use as much as they wanted of one of three products: their regular brand of cigarettes, 22nd Century’s VLNs or nicotine gum, which is a popular product used to wean smokers off their habit.
According to the article, the researchers found that when smokers used nicotine gum, the levels of the substance in their blood was reduced by an average of 69 percent compared to when they smoked their brand of cigarettes, but on days they smoked the company’s VLN product, nicotine levels in their bloodstreams dropped by up to 97 percent.
“In contrast to the highly addictive cigarettes sold by Big Tobacco companies, 22nd Century’s VLN cigarettes contain 95 percent less nicotine,” Henry Sicignano III, president and CEO of 22nd Century group, is quoted as saying in the article. “22nd Century’s new study joins more than 50 independent scientific studies using our Company’s proprietary VLNC tobacco and investigating the potential public health benefits of VLNC cigarettes. Upon FDA approval, we look forward to bringing to market the world’s first Modified Risk Tobacco Product.”
22nd Century’s mission is to improve human health by using genetic engineering and selective breeding techniques to develop plants whose levels of certain substances can be increased or decreased depending on the need. In the case of tobacco, the aim is to breed strains that contain less nicotine and other harmful substances, thus lessening the dangers of smoking.
