Smoking Rates Unchanged - 46 Million in U.S.; SWITCH TO SNUS!

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says the number of American cigarette smokers remains at 21% (46 million smokers), and teen smoking has also failed to decline. One in five teens smokes. "It's tragic," said CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden, who calls smoking the No. 1 preventable cause of death in the United States. He estimates that smoking kills 1,000 Americans a day.

"Without bold action by our elected officials, too many lives, young and old, will suffer needlessly from chronic illness and burdensome health care expenses," Nancy Brown, chief executive of the American Heart Association, said in a statement.

Wake up, Washington! There is conclusive scientific evidence that smokeless tobacco, and particularly snus, offers an effective way to help smokers switch from cigarettes and significantly reduce their health risks. Switch to smokeless! Switch to snus!  [Buy either of these valuable marketing domains by submitting your offer as a "comment" to this blog.]

Cigarette Deaths & Disease: “The Problem is NOT the Nicotine”, It’s the Smoke

The problem is not the nicotine,” says Dr. Michael Lucia, a Nevada pulmonary and sleep specialist, “it is the delivery system [cigarettes] which causes so many health problems. Smoking is the single greatest threat to health because it damages every organ in the body. It is a multi-system disease.” Lucia says 15 types of cancer are directly related to smoking, as well as many other ailments, including heart and vascular disease.

The CDC says smoking causes abdominal aortic aneurysm, acute myeloid leukemia, cataract, cervical cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, pneumonia, periodontitis, and stomach cancer, plus bladder, esophageal, laryngeal, lung, oral, and throat cancers; chronic lung diseases; coronary heart and cardiovascular diseases; and reproductive effects and sudden infant death syndrome.

According to the American Lung Association, smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined. Thousands more die from other tobacco-related causes such as fires caused by smoking and smokeless tobacco use.

Quitting smoking will reduce risks for diseases and improve health in general.

Stop smoking. Switch to snus.

Switch to Snus to Quit Smoking, Say Norwegians

A study recently published by the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research finds that switching to snus (Swedish-style oral snuff) is by far the most popular method for quitting smoking in Norway. Furthermore, it is much more effective than using nicotine replacement products sold by pharmaceutical companies. [Thanks to Reason for this info!] You can buy the valuable domain SwitchToSnus.com from me by submitting your offer as a comment to this blog, or by making your offer here at SEDO.

FDA Tapping Big Pharma to Knock Off the Tobacco Industry

The FDA is stocking its new tobacco advisory committee with highly-paid consultants for drug companies that market smoking cessation products. It’s a clear conflict of interest, and equally clear evidence of the federal agency being tone deaf – while other parts of the government and virtually every medical journal worldwide are acknowledging they’ve been wrong to let drug-company-paid “experts” sit on research review panels, here the FDA is tossing fairness right out the window.

A non-profit watchdog, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is petitioning to toss two foxes out of the henhouse:

·         Dr. Neal L. Benowitz consults for Pfizer, makers of Chantix, a prescription pill that aims at nicotine receptors in the brain.

·         Jack E. Henningfield is a vice president at Pinney Associates, a consultant for GlaxoSmithKline, maker of nicotine gum, lozenges and patches.

“Everybody hates the tobacco companies, but favoring the drug companies can’t be the answer,” Melanie Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group. Their complaint against the stacked advisory panel has been filed with Department of Health & Human Service’s inspector general.

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U.S. Cigarettes Most Dangerous in the World, It Seems

Cigarettes sold in the U.S. cause Americans to inhale more cancer-causing agents than do cigarettes sold in Canada, Britain and Australia, researchers reported on June 1, 2010. Different blends of ingredients account for the fact. The study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, showed that the amounts of carcinogens in cigarette butts directly correlated with tell-tale compounds in the smoker's urine.

"We know that cigarettes from around the world vary in their ingredients and the way they are produced," said Dr. Jim Pirkle of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "All of these cigarettes contain harmful levels of carcinogens, but these findings show that amounts of tobacco-specific nitrosamines differ from country to country, and U.S. brands are the highest in the study."

The popular U.S. cigarette brands studied contained "American blend" tobacco, known to contain higher TSNA levels than the "bright" tobacco used in the most popular Australian, Canadian, and British brands. Australian and Canadian smokers got more nicotine than U.S. and British smokers, but not of TSNAs. 

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NIH: Nicotine Good for Attention and Memory

Dr. Stephen Heishman, a scientist with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (part of the National Institutes of Health) and colleagues studied all the literature they could find on nicotine and performance published between 1994 and 2008. They reviewed 41 studies and looked at how nicotine affected everything from fine motor skills to short term memory. Their results were published in the journal Psychopharmacology. They found that nicotine not only helps with fine motor skills and alertness, but it improves short term memory for tasks as well. "The effect on attention was well known, but I was somewhat surprised about the effects on memory," Heishman said. "Smokers say that one of the reasons that they smoke is to help them concentrate, focus on tasks and do their work, and obviously a lot of our daily work involves memory. So on the other hand, I guess it shouldn't be too surprising."

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Snus Packaging Attacked –- “The Silent Salesman?”

Leave it to the publication Packaging World to hone in on a core issue in anti-tobacco’s latest attack on snus and other smokeless products: The tobacco prohibitionists argue that the packaging, particularly the metal containers, are aimed at kids.

“Allegations are that recent product launches by R.J. Reynolds encourage nicotine consumption by children and that that's the company's strategy. In particular, it's alleged that packaging is a core component of that strategy.” Packaging World says the attack is on the packages’ “graphics and structure”. R.J. Reynolds denies the allegations.

Camel’s products sport “brightly-colored packaging, hues that appeal to youngsters, so say the critics. The colors and the other graphic elements convey an image that is ‘fun’ and ‘cool.’ The argument continues that, were the products exclusively geared to adults, the packaging would have a different look. Structurally, the packaging is not only compact, but sleek, even incorporating an ergonomic indentation that makes dispensing easier. … In all, graphics and structure coordinate, such that an unsuspecting adult, at a distance or by casual glance, might mistake the packaging as containing mints, candy, gum, etc. A similar case of mistaken identity might be committed by a hurried, inattentive retail check-out clerk.” 

It seems that prohibitionists are preparing to pressure the FDA to impose “plain brown wrapper” packaging rules on the smokeless industry. If they get their way, all smokeless products will ultimately be foul-tasting, smelly substances sold in ugly, ungainly packages.

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The Smokeless Tobacco Oral Cancer Myth - How It Got Its Start

Thanks to the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) for this most helpful dispatch, posted yesterday on their site:

In the wake of last week's U.S. House Subcommittee on Health hearing on smokeless tobacco, ACSH advisor and friend Dr. Brad Rodu has taken on one of the key witnesses. Dr. Rodu, an epidemiologist and oral pathology expert at the University of Kentucky, says in a post on his blog that National Cancer Institute epidemiologist Deborah Winn "fueled the misinformation campaign about smokeless tobacco almost 30 years ago."

Winn published a study in 1981 that "irresponsibly led the public and the medical establishment to falsely believe that smokeless tobacco was responsible for an American oral cancer epidemic," Dr. Rodu writes. Winn's study on mortality rates only applied to users of powdered dry snuff, used by a tiny number of women in the South, and should never have been applied to chewing tobacco and moist snuff. Winn admitted as much at a "sparsely attended scientific meeting" in 1986, Dr. Rodu says, but tobacco prohibitionists still misapply her mortality claims to all smokeless products.

Dr. Rodu is the co-author of ACSH's landmark article on smokeless tobacco and harm reduction,Tobacco Harm Reduction: An Alternate Cessation Strategy for Inveterate Smokers."

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Why Switch to Snus? To Eliminate Secondhand Smoke

There's another reason to switch to snus (SwitchToSnus.com) -- people exposed to secondhand smoke appear more likely to have chronic rhinosinusitis, according to a report in Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery. Secondhand smoke is said to contain more than 4,000 substances, including more than 50 that are either known or suspected to cause cancer, according to the article. An estimated 126 million non-smokers are exposed to secondhand smoke, say the authors, C. Martin Tammemagi, D.V.M., M.Sc., Ph.D., of Brock University, St. Catharine's, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues.

Latest Attack on Smokeless Tobacco? Accidental Child Poisoning

Smokeless tobacco products may be contributing to accidental poisonings in very young children, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics. Between 2006 and 2008, some 1,800 U.S. youngsters accidentally consumed smokeless tobacco products, based on analysis of 13,705 tobacco-related reports to the nation’s poison control centers (vs. 3,600 poisonings a year involving cigarettes and filter tips). Alfred Aleguas, Jr., a co-author of the study from the Northern Ohio Poison Center, said a single Orb, which contains about 1 milligram of nicotine, is enough to sicken a small child, and a handful of pellets potentially could be lethal. Of course, there have not been any such dire consequences from the ingestions to date.

The study and attendant news reports failed to note just how common non-lethal accidental child poisoning is, and how varied the causes. Facts: There were an estimated 86,194 child poisoning incidents treated in US hospital emergency departments in 2004, amounting to 429.4 poisonings per 100000 children. Approximately 70% of the poisonings involved children 1 or 2 years of age. Approximately 59.5% of the poisonings involved oral prescription drugs, oral nonprescription drugs, or supplements. Other major product categories resulting in poisonings included cleaning products (13.2%), drugs and ointment preparations intended for external use (4.9%), and personal care products (4.7%). Approximately 54.7% of the poisonings involved products already subject to child-resistant packaging requirements under the Poison Prevention Packaging Act. PEDIATRICS Vol. 122 No. 6 December 2008, pp. 1244-1251

The bottom line: Kids ingest anything within their reach, and smokeless products have not been shown to be any more likely to be ingested or to have more dire consequences than any other substance involved in accidental ingestion. Is there a move to ban drugs, supplements, ointments or personal care products?

Congress's House Health Subcommittee Hearing on Smokeless April 14

Well, the anti-tobacco folks decided not to take the relatively pro-smokeless tobacco 60 Minutes piece sitting down. They ran to their allies in Congress, and arranged a hearing for this Wednesday, at which time they will undoubtedly chastise CBS and throw more mud on smokeless. The topic for the hearing is "Smokeless Tobacco: Impact on the Health of Our Nation's Youth and Use in Major League Baseball." House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health, 10 am.

Obviously, the anti's are going to push the unfounded theme that all marketing of smokeless is aimed at hooking kids on nicotine, in order to graduate them into smoking for life. The fact that there is absolutely no proof of any of this won't deter the tobacco prohibitionists from grandstanding on Wednesday.

Snus Comes Off Pretty Well on 60 Minutes Telecast

60 Minutes ran a rather positive news feature on smokeless tobacco last night, with emphasis on snus and secondarily on new Camel dissolvables. You can view the entire story here.

60 Minutes to Feature Smokeless Tobacco April 4

60 Minutes will broadcast a story on smokeless tobacco this Sunday,April 4th.  It is available on your local CBS station at 7 p.m. orearlier, depending on time zone.   The story will also be available inits entirety on the internet after the show.  The website iswww.60Minutes.com <http://www.60minutes.com/>. 

Snus Beats Nicotine Gum for Quitting Smoking, Say New Zealand Researchers

If you’re trying to quit smoking, forget nicotine gum. Researchers at New Zealand’s University of Otago showed that while only 10% of people who use nicotine replacement therapy actually stop smoking, 37% quit cigarettes by using snus. Tiny packets of non-spit-producing snus (pasteurized dry crushed tobacco placed between gum and cheek) were far preferred over nicotine gum by smokers in the study. The results were published in the respected journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.  Snus is “easy to take, people like the impact and they suppress withdrawal symptoms,” said lead researcher Dr. Brent Caldwell from the Department of Medicine. The research was funded by the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation of New Zealand.

[The valuable domain SwitchToSnus.com is for sale by this blogger. Offers can be submitted as a "comment" to this blog.]

E-Cigarettes May Be Inviting FDA and FTC Scrutiny

E-cigarettes -- tubes that look like cigarettes but deliver nicotine without burning tobacco -- may be pushing the limits with their consumer advertising, and FDA/FTC crackdowns could be coming. The marketer of Smoking Stick Electronic Cigarettes is aggressively promoting an advertising site that is cleverly masked to look like a legitimate TV news site, complete with phony "comments". With claims like "It's a healthier way to smoke," the ad site is clearly inviting agency scrutiny.

The e-cigarette industry already is involved in one legal dispute with the FDA. The agency had blocked importation of Chinese e-cigs to the U.S., but in early January 2010 a federal judge ordered the FDA to back off, saying the agency doesn't have jurisdiction. This issue is far from settled.

Menthol on Today's FDA Docket

The new federal advisory board for tobacco regulation meets for the first time today in Washington, DC, to decide what to do about menthol flavorings in cigarettes, which account for almost a third of the nation’s $70 billion cigarette market. Under the law, the F.D.A. is to issue a report on menthol next year and take action by 2012. “We’ve spent a lot of time working on the dangers of smoking, but now we’re going to be taking a somewhat different approach,” said Dr. Jonathan Samet, chairman of the advisory panel. “We’ll be trying to understand what it is in the products that harm people and what changes can be made.”

Half of long-term smokers eventually die of smoking-related causes, according to the  World Health Organization. If the FDA has any sense, it would encourage marketers to educate smokers about smokeless tobacco, which has been shown to be 98% safer than cigarettes and an effective smoking cessation aid.

FDA Demands Kid Marketing Research From Reynolds

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has asked Reynolds by April 1 to provide its research into how its Camel Orbs, Strips and Sticks dissolvable tobacco products are used and perceived by people age 25 and younger. In a February letter to Reynolds, Dr. Lawrence Deyton, director of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products, said the agency is concerned that adolescents may be drawn to the products' "brightly colored packaging" and "easily concealable size." Reynolds says it only markets to adults, and positions its smokeless products as alternatives to cigarettes for times when lighting up is illegal or impractical. Reynolds is hoping the FDA will give weight to the growing legions of public health experts who say that smokeless tobacco products are significantly safer or less harmful than cigarettes; these health advocates support the tobacco industry's desire to advertise those facts to adult smokers.

Snus Defined

Snus (pronounced like "moose") is a moist tobacco product available in the U.S., Sweden, Norway and elsewhere. It originated in Sweden in the early 19th century. Snus has been shown to be far safer than all other forms of tobacco. In modern forms, such as mini-teabags, pills and tablet, snus is enjoyed as a spit-free alternative to chewing tobacco and significantly safer but totally satisfying substitute for deadly cigarettes.

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