Genetically-engineered tobacco plant is said to be almost nicotine-free

A French tobacco producer checks his dried tobacco leaves. German researchers have developed a tobacco plant with very low levels of nicotine. — AFP

Researchers say they have created a kind of tobacco that’s almost entirely nicotine-free, an achievement that could pave the way for a new kind of cigarette that’s far less addictive.

According to German technology university TU Dortmund, their researchers have managed to genetically modify a tobacco plant called Virginia Smoking Tobacco, so that its concentration of the highly-addictive substance was decreased substantially to one four-hundredth of its previous concentration.