Tobacco stocks drop on report Biden administration is planning to cut nicotine levels in cigarettes

0
122


Marlboro cigarettes, a product of Philip Morris International

Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Tobacco stocks tumbled Monday on a report that the Biden administration is contemplating whether or not to cap nicotine levels in cigarettes.

The report, which cited folks aware of the matter, was printed in the Wall Street Journal. The paper stated the dialogue got here as public officers strategy a deadline to say whether or not they plan to search a ban of menthol cigarettes or not.

The Biden administration is making an attempt to decide if it ought to cut back nicotine levels in conjunction with a menthol ban or as a separate coverage, the folks advised the Journal.

Nicotine would not trigger most cancers, however it does make smoking extra addictive. The aim of lowering nicotine levels could be to make cigarettes much less addictive, hoping to coax people who smoke to give up or change to different merchandise which are thought of to be safer.

The Food and Drug Administration, which has regulatory oversight of tobacco, declined to remark on the report.

“Any motion that the FDA takes should be based mostly on science and proof and should take into account the real-world penalties of such actions, together with the expansion of a bootleg market and the impression on lots of of hundreds of jobs from the farm to native shops throughout the nation,” Altria spokesperson George Parman advised CNBC in an electronic mail.

Altria shares closed down greater than 6% on the report. In prolonged buying and selling Monday, shares fell a further 2%.

British American Tobacco shares closed down 2% Monday, whereas Philip Morris International shares ended the day down greater than 1%. Both stocks additionally have been down after the market closed.

Philip Morris International declined to remark on this matter. The tobacco firm doesn’t promote or market cigarettes in the U.S. But its inventory fell on the information regardless.

British American Tobacco did not instantly reply to a request for remark. The firm owns Reynolds American, the maker of Camel cigarettes.

Read the full story from the Wall Street Journal here.



Source link