Effects of Reduced-nicotine Cigarettes Across Regulatory Environments in the Experimental Tobacco Ma
Saturday, June 19, 2021
Posted by: Natalia Gromov
Brent
A Kaplan, Mikhail N Koffarnus, Christopher T Franck, Warren K Bickel.
Effects of
Reduced-nicotine Cigarettes Across Regulatory Environments in the Experimental
Tobacco Marketplace: A Randomized Trial.
Nicotine & Tobacco Research, Volume 23, Issue 7, July 2021, Pages
1123–1132, https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntaa226.
Introduction. Cigarette
smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
Recent efforts have explored the potential health and policy benefits of
reducing nicotine, an addictive component, in combustible cigarettes. To date,
an experimental, prospective analysis directly comparing the effects of varying
regulatory environments on purchases of multiple products has yet to be
conducted. The present study compared real purchasing of conventional
cigarettes, reduced-nicotine cigarettes, and a variety of other nicotine and
tobacco products across a range of regulatory environments.
Methods. Participants
were assigned to one of five groups, each associated with a different nicotine
level (mg of nicotine to g of tobacco) in SPECTRUM investigational cigarettes
(15.8, 5.2, 2.4, 1.3, and 0.4 mg/g). Across sessions, participants made real
purchases for nicotine/tobacco products in an Experimental Tobacco Marketplace.
Each session corresponded with a distinct regulatory environment wherein
different nicotine/tobacco products were available for purchase.
Results. Our
results suggest that the primary drivers of cigarette and nicotine purchasing
are regulatory environment and the presence/absence of alternative nicotine and
tobacco products. Perhaps surprisingly, nicotine level does not appear to be
such a driver of purchasing behavior under these experimental conditions.
Investigational cigarette purchasing is lowest when other preferred combustible
products are available and highest when investigational cigarettes are the only
combustible product available for purchase.
Conclusions. If
a reduced-nicotine policy is implemented, great care should be taken in
determining and making available less-harmful nicotine/tobacco products as the
availability of preferred combustible products may result in undesirable levels
of purchasing.
Implications. This
is the first experimental study investigating different potential regulatory
effects related to a reduced-nicotine policy by examining purchasing across a
range of nicotine/tobacco products. Our results suggest the presence of
affordable, highly preferred combustible products is likely to maintain tobacco
purchasing at undesirable levels. To promote switching to less-harmful
products, affordable alternate nicotine and tobacco products should be readily
available. Finally, our results suggest that the availability of noncigarette
products, not cigarette nicotine level, will most likely affect purchasing of
reduced-nicotine cigarettes.
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