MONDAY, Feb. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Most American adults support
reducing nicotine in cigarettes to prevent people, especially
children, from becoming addicted to smoking, a new study finds.
Researchers surveyed 511 nonsmokers and 510 smokers aged 18 and
older and found that, overall, two-thirds supported reducing
nicotine levels in cigarettes to nonaddictive levels.
The study also found that 77 percent (81 percent of nonsmokers
and 74 percent of smokers) would support lowering the amount of
nicotine in cigarettes to nonaddictive levels if doing so would
reduce the number of children who became addicted to
cigarettes.
A ban on cigarettes was supported by 43 percent of the
respondents, including 55 percent of nonsmokers and 33 percent of
smokers, according to study author Gregory Connolly, director of
the Center for Global Tobacco Control at the Harvard School of
Public Health, and colleagues.
The study was published online Feb. 16 in the
American Journal of Public Health.
Cigarettes contribute to the premature deaths of more than
400,000 people in the United States each year, and more than 3,800
youths begin smoking every day, according to a Harvard news
release.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about
tobacco addiction.