Nicotine Without the Smoke -- Delaware Online (Hit piece on smokeless tobacco)

[Placebo Effect]

Nicotine without the smoke | The News Journal | delawareonline.com

Campaign for tobacco Free Kids and the American Lung Association get plenty of play in this article.

Transition product?

The health risks associated with smoking and secondhand exposure are well-known -- lung cancer, heart disease and stroke. There are 40 or so carcinogens that go into making a cigarette. [Making a cigarette ignite in flames, not the manufacturing process]

. . .

Because cigarettes can be hard to quit, a few public health advocates have suggested smokeless tobacco products may help some smokers make the transition to being nonsmokers. A University of South Carolina researcher is conducting a yearlong study looking at whether the use of smokeless products like snus leads to attempts at quitting, smoking reduction or cessation among smokers. In Sweden, where snus is most popular, studies suggest that users of the moist snuff product face fewer health problems than those who smoke. Sweden has one of the lowest smoking rates in the world.

But Brown [of the American Lung Association] said that doesn't mean smokeless tobacco is safe, especially since it keeps people addicted to nicotine while putting them at risk for other health problems later on, including oral cancer, tooth loss and gum disease. The amount of nicotine in smokeless products typically is about the same or slightly less than the level found in cigarettes, although one brand of tobacco sticks has about three times as much nicotine.

One paragraph in a 5-page story that can be remotely construed as positive towards smokeless, and it can't even say that snus users face "FAR fewer health problems than those who smoke." As Dr. Rodu has shown, Brown has no substantial scientific evidence to back up her tooth loss and gum disease claims.

Newer varieties like dissolvable lozenges have a higher amount of the nicotine that is most rapidly absorbed in the mouth, which could make them more toxic if accidentally swallowed by children.

Smokeless tobacco is different than nicotine-replacement medication products, which include gum, nasal spray, inhalers, lozenges and patches. Those are designed to wean the body off cigarettes by providing nicotine in controlled amounts without the chemicals found in other tobacco products. They require FDA approval as smoking cessation aids.

No safety concerns from the NRT lozenges? Just the dissolvable lozenges? How are Commit lozenges different from Ariva lozenges?

Some analysts suggest it may be difficult for tobacco companies to prove smokeless tobacco products pose different health risks than cigarettes. "We have the position that there is no safe tobacco," Brown said.

Well, that's not very helpful.

Mount Pleasant High School student Matt Coyle serves as the statewide chair for the Kick Butts Generation, a youth movement focused on decreasing tobacco use in Delaware. He said most of the questions he gets from young people are about smoking, but some kids want to know if the newer products are better for them.

"A lot of people think the toxins are only in the cigarette, when tobacco and nicotine are still bad for you," said Coyle, who drives a car wrapped with anti-tobacco messages.

I hope Coyle's not telling smokers that smokeless isn't any safer for them. And the sole part about e-cigarettes. It's a whopper.

Beth Mattey, school nurse at Mount Pleasant High School, said cigarettes remain the focus of prevention efforts among young people, but as more products appear on the market, anti-tobacco organizations are expanding their efforts. She said members of Kick Butts Generation recently approached a vendor at a mall who was selling electronic cigarettes, a battery-operated device that uses liquid nicotine to produce a vapor.

They had more information about the product, including its risks, than the vendor did, which was an empowering moment for the students, she said.

"We're being proactive is what we're doing," she said.

I can picture it now. "Do you know your products contain carcinogens and antifreeze? And that nicotine is deadly, toxic chemical that is used in pesticides? And that it's not approved by the FDA as a quit smoking tool?"