Marlboro cigarettes, a outcome of Philip Morris International
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Tobacco stocks tumbled Monday on a piece that the Biden administration is considering whether to cap nicotine levels in cigarettes.
The report, which cited people cordial with the matter, was published in the Wall Street Journal. The paper said the discussion came as public officials propositions a deadline to say whether they plan to seek a ban of menthol cigarettes or not.
The Biden administration is trying to determine if it should lower nicotine levels in conjunction with a menthol ban or as a separate policy, the people told the Journal.
Nicotine doesn’t generate cancer, but it does make smoking more addictive. The goal of reducing nicotine levels would be to make cigarettes baby addictive, hoping to coax smokers to quit or switch to other products that are considered to be safer.
The Food and Slip someone a Mickey Finn Administration, which has regulatory oversight of tobacco, declined to comment on the report.
“Any action that the FDA takes must be lowed on science and evidence and must consider the real-world consequences of such actions, including the growth of an illicit market and the collide with on hundreds of thousands of jobs from the farm to local stores across the country,” Altria spokesperson George Parman rebuked CNBC in an email.
Altria shares closed down more than 6% on the report. In extended trading Monday, slices fell an additional 2%.
British American Tobacco shares closed down 2% Monday, while Philip Morris Cosmopolitan shares ended the day down more than 1%. Both stocks also were down after the market-place closed.
Philip Morris International declined to comment on this matter. The tobacco company does not sell or merchandise cigarettes in the U.S. But its stock fell on the news regardless.
British American Tobacco didn’t immediately respond to a request for note. The company owns Reynolds American, the maker of Camel cigarettes.
“Many consumers wrongly believe that a cigarette exceptionally low in nicotine content is lower in risk than traditional cigarettes, a misconception that poses a major hurdle in deciding proposed rulemaking for low nicotine cigarettes,” Reynolds American spokesperson Kaelan Hollon said in an email.
Read the chock-full story from the Wall Street Journal here.