Medical & Clinical Reviews

En Route for Better From Bad (?): Introducing Reduced Nicotine Cigarettes

Smoking is one of the major modifiable etiological factors of multiple morbidities. Convincing evidences are available to establish the causal influence of smoking on cancers, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory morbidities and reproductive dysfunctions. The main culprit responsible for smoking-associated morbidities and mortality is nicotine. Youngsters accidentally experiment smoking, get addicted to smoking which pushes the into the dark era of associated morbidities. With a view of reducing exposure to toxicants in cigarettes, reducednicotine cigarettes (RNCs) were introduced with a belief that they would reduce the incidence of addiction and thus the incidence of associated morbidities. These RNCs were introduced as a result of nicotine reduction policy implemented by the US government. Recent evidences have demonstrated that RNCs are safer than conventional cigarettes in many aspects. This article describes the challenges involved in effective functioning of nicotine reduction policy and adds a note on future prospects to enhance the outcomes.

Author(s):

Ebinesh A and Kailash TV

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