As low-nicotine cigarettes hit the market, anti-smoking groups press for wider standard

more than 480,000 deaths a year

22nd Century says it used a patent-protected process to control nicotine biosynthesis in the tobacco plant, enabling it to create a pack of cigarettes with about as much nicotine as one Marlboro. It says generally that it uses", including genetic engineering, gene-editing, and molecular breeding." Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids President Matthew L. Myers supports the development of an industrywide low-nicotine standard, saying the concept would work only if consumers no longer had the alternative of a higher-nicotine cigarette.

"If people are looking at this as a magic bullet and are still continuing their tobacco use, they are not doing anything to change their risk," said Sward, of the lung association.

Colombia Últimas Noticias, Colombia Titulares