Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop didn t live long enough to see America turned into a smoke-free society but can we? That s the provocative idea behind an op-ed in today s New York Times by Richard Daynard, a Northeastern University law professor and president of its Public Health Advocacy Institute.
Daynard says the Food and Drug Administration would be well within its authority under the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act to require nicotine content to be below addictive levels.
He also proposes that cities and states adopt a proposal called the Smokefree Generation, in which no one born in or after 2000 can ever be legally sold cigarettes. It s hard to imagine too many parents objecting, and it would easy for retailers to enforce, Daynard writes. In the United States, it would provide a useful focus for state and local public health officials to do something game-changing, rather than sitting on the sidelines waiting for Washington to act.
The goal of these proposals which Daynard acknowledges may seem a little crazy would be a nation with a smoking rate under 10 percent, or about half of what it is in America today.
ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross calls these proposals intriguing, but says that one thing s for certain: there d be a major short-term detriment to lowering nicotine levels. If you look at the long term, five or 10 years out, maybe you d have fewer addicted smokers. But in the short term, it would unquestionably increase the toxic effects of smoking. Smokers would take more puffs and inhale more deeply to get that addictive nicotine.
Still, Daynard s proposals are worth considering and should not be dismissed out of hand, Dr. Ross says.
