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Health Canada is studying the possibility of forcing companies to make their cigarettes less addictive, a controversial anti-smoking strategy that no other country has implemented.

The department issued a tender recently calling for an outside researcher to add to the government’s own extensive analysis of the idea and how it would affect public health.

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Though not mentioned specifically in the document, reducing the nicotine level of cigarettes is the most-discussed means of lessening their addictiveness. But experts are divided on whether that makes any sense.

Proponents say early evidence indicates that a cut in the chemical could help wean smokers off the habit.

Critics argue that a mandated nicotine reduction would only prompt people to smoke more to get their desired hit of the drug — and suck in more of tobacco’s carcinogens in the process.

“It’s so wrong-headed,” said David Sweanor, an Ottawa lawyer and long-time anti-smoking advocate. “The unintended consequences are screaming out on this. … People adjust the way they smoke to get the nicotine they need or want.”