The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that no warning is needed for products designed to help people quit smoking, such as nicotine gum, patches, or lozenges.

Manufacturers of these products are advised to modify or remove safety warnings that were previously demanded. The FDA believes that taking away the warnings will help more people try to quit this life-threatening habit, instead of scaring them off.

Consumers can now use a nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) if they are still smoking, chewing tobacco, using snuff or another nicotine product, according to the Agency.

A study published in British Medical Journal showed that smokers who do not want to quit right now, but are willing to cut down on the number of cigarettes they smoke, are twice as likely to stop smoking in the long-term if they use NRT.

If a smoker is using a NRT product and cheats – has a cigarette – the experts say that he/she should keep using the NRT.

When the NRT products were available to the public 30 years ago, they were only sold with a prescription, and there were very little data on them. In the late 1990s, the products became available over-the-counter.

However, after considerable research, results showed that the products contain a limited amount of nicotine that is used to decrease symptoms of withdrawal and do not seem to to have notable potential for dependence or abuse, the Agency revealed.

People should use the gum, patch, or lozenges for the suggested amount of time, usually 8 to 12 weeks. However, they said, if the consumers need to use them for longer it is okay.

If smokers intend to use a NRT product for a prolonged period, FDA officials advise consulting with a doctor.

A report published in Archives of General Psychiatry demonstrated that a nicotine patch plus a nicotine lozenge is most effective at helping people quit the bad habit.

The experts hope that by removing the warnings, smokers will not be discouraged from quitting. Approximately 440,000 lives are taken each year in the U.S. as a result of tobacco use.

Over 45 million Americans smoke cigarettes and about 50% of them try to stop each year, according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

Smoking is the number one cause of preventable illness and death among Americans and is to blame for most of the country’s lung cancer deaths.

Experts from the CDC stated:

“More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.”

The CDC states that smoking increases the risk of:

  • stroke by 2 to 4 times
  • coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times
  • dying from chronic obstructive lung diseases, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema, by 12 to 13 times.
  • males developing lung cancer by 23 times
  • females developing lung cancer by 13 times

Written by Sarah Glynn