# Evaluating New Nicotine Standards for Cigarettes

> **NIH NIH U54** · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2022 · $322,061

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
On December 9, 2021, the New Zealand Government launched the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan,
outlining a strategy to reduce smoking prevalence to less than 5% for all populations in New Zealand by 2025.
The plan includes a commitment to only having low-level nicotine smoked tobacco products for sale. A low
nicotine product standard has also been proposed as a cornerstone of the United States Food and Drug
Administration’s Comprehensive Plan for Tobacco and Nicotine Regulation. Previous research has
demonstrated that when tobacco users switch to very low nicotine content cigarettes there is a reduction in
cigarettes per day, dependence and biomarkers of smoke exposure, plus an increase in quit attempts and
smoking cessation; and relatively few unintended consequences. However, to date, no country has
implemented a low nicotine product standard; therefore, the real world impact of regulation has not been
evaluated. We propose to conduct an exploratory sequential mixed methods study in New Zealand adults who
smoke tobacco cigarettes to assess product perceptions, concerns for individual health and well-being, need
for support services, and behavioral intentions in response to a pending mandated reduction of nicotine in all
smoked tobacco products. The survey will also include items from a wide range of domains including tobacco
use behaviors; tobacco dependence; attitudes, beliefs, and norms; other health behaviors; significant health
conditions and associated risk factors; mental health indicators; and smoking cessation history. Biosamples
will be banked in a biorepository located at the University of Auckland for future analysis of changes in
objective measures of exposure to tobacco smoke. The proposed research focuses on populations with high
smoking prevalence (oversampling important ethnic groups: Maori, Pacific Islanders), including: 1) Individuals
with self-reported anxiety, depression and other mental health concerns; 2) Young adult women (age 18-24
years) living in socioeconomically deprived areas of New Zealand who are at a much greater risk of smoking
during pregnancy; and 3) Individuals who report heavy alcohol and/or cannabis use.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10578938
- **Project number:** 3U54DA031659-10S1
- **Recipient organization:** WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** ERIC Christian DONNY
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $322,061
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2011-09-15 → 2025-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10578938

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10578938, Evaluating New Nicotine Standards for Cigarettes (3U54DA031659-10S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-10 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10578938. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*