22nd Century Group, Inc., a leading plant-based, biotechnology
company that is focused on tobacco harm reduction, very low
nicotine content tobacco, and hemp/cannabis research, announced
today that the Buffalo News, the largest newspaper in Western New
York, published an op-ed from James A. Mish, 22nd Century’s Chief
Executive Officer.
Mish writes that the Biden Administration has a historic
opportunity to address cigarette addiction by dramatically reducing
the nicotine in cigarettes.
Requiring all cigarettes to be made minimally or non-addictive
is a primary objective of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) as stated in its previously published Comprehensive Plan for
Tobacco and Nicotine Regulation. Public health researchers estimate
that by reducing the nicotine in cigarettes to such low levels will
“help addicted adult smokers quit” and “significantly reduce
tobacco-related disease and death in the U.S. in the years to
come.” 22nd Century stands ready to help the FDA achieve this goal
and improve public health.
“While the country has made progress in the battle against
cigarette addiction over the last decades, now is the time to enact
policies that will allow us to take that fight to the next level.
Specifically, requiring cigarettes to be minimally or non-addictive
would put us in a strong position to help end this epidemic,” Mish
writes.
The article is reprinted below in its entirety:
Another Voice: FDA can save lives by targeting tobacco
addictionBy James A. MishPublished 1/26/2021
President Biden campaigned on reversing much of former President
Donald Trump’s legacy. Let’s hope that pledge extends to cigarette
smoking.
Trump’s Food and Drug Administration unveiled an ambitious plan
in 2017 to regulate tobacco and nicotine consumption, promising to
“better protect kids and significantly reduce tobacco-related
disease and death."
This multi-year roadmap focused on nicotine reduction and
included consideration of “a product standard to lower nicotine in
cigarettes to minimally addictive or non-addictive levels.”
Notably, the FDA stated that reducing nicotine in cigarettes could
“…result in more than 8 million fewer tobacco-caused deaths through
the end of the century.”
Their goal was laudable, and the plan the agency announced was
sound. But the proposal failed to gain traction. And in the fall of
2019, Trump’s FDA confirmed what many surmised by formally dropping
the mandate from its unified agenda, effectively punting on a
policy priority the agency introduced with much fanfare just two
years earlier. The decision was another victory for Big
Tobacco.
The Biden administration has a chance to embrace this agenda
after Trump’s FDA abandoned it. Ending Covid-19 is their top
priority, and rightfully so. But the new administration will
hopefully recognize that combating cigarette addiction and Covid-19
go hand-in-hand and both should be pillars of their overall public
health agenda.
Cigarette addiction continues to take a serious toll on millions
of Americans, causing about one in five deaths in the United
States, or more than 480,000 deaths annually, and costs $300
billion in healthcare expenses each year. In New York alone,
smoking kills 28,000 adults annually and costs the state more than
$17 billion in health-related costs and lost productivity.
I lead a dynamic biotechnology company based right here in
Western New York that has a solution to help the FDA achieve its
goal of solving cigarette addiction, which remains one of the
world’s largest preventable health crises.
While the country has made progress in the battle against
cigarette addiction over the last decades, now is the time to enact
policies that will allow us to take that fight to the next level.
Specifically, requiring cigarettes to be minimally or non-addictive
would put us in a strong position to help end this epidemic.
We are asking our congressional representatives and Sens.
Schumer and Gillibrand to work with the FDA to require all
cigarettes be made minimally or non-addictive.
About The Buffalo NewsThe Buffalo News is
Western New York’s largest newspaper in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls
metropolitan area. The newspaper provides comprehensive coverage
from Buffalo, to New York’s state capital, Albany, Washington D.C.,
and beyond. Buffalo News covers various subject areas including,
local, national and world news, politics, business, sports,
lifestyle, and culture.
About 22nd Century Group, Inc. 22nd Century
Group, Inc. (NYSE American: XXII) is a leading plant biotechnology
company focused on technologies that alter the level of
nicotine in tobacco plants and the level of cannabinoids in
hemp/cannabis plants through genetic engineering, gene-editing, and
modern plant breeding. 22nd Century’s primary mission in tobacco is
to reduce the harm caused by smoking through the Company’s
proprietary reduced nicotine content tobacco cigarettes –
containing 95% less nicotine than conventional cigarettes. The
Company’s primary mission in hemp/cannabis is to develop and
commercialize proprietary hemp/cannabis plants with valuable
cannabinoid profiles and desirable agronomic traits.
Learn more at xxiicentury.com, on Twitter @_xxiicentury and on
LinkedIn.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
StatementsExcept for historical information, all of the
statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this press
release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements
typically contain terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,”
“consider,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “explore,”
“foresee,” “goal,” “guidance,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “plan,”
“potential,” “predict,” “preliminary,” “probable,” “project,”
“promising,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” “would,” and similar
expressions. Actual results might differ materially from those
explicit or implicit in forward-looking statements. Important
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are
set forth in “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form
10-K filed on March 11, 2020 and in its subsequently filed
Quarterly Report on Form 10-1. 22nd Century undertakes no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statement as a result of new information, future events, or
otherwise, except as otherwise required by law.
All information provided in this release is as of the date
hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to and does not
intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as
required by law.
Investor Relations & Media Contact: Mei Kuo
Director, Communications & Investor Relations 22nd Century
Group, Inc. (716) 300-1221mkuo@xxiicentury.com
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