chew – Oral Cancer News

Tobacco is OUT! A third of all Major League Baseball stadiums to be free of tobacco

Source: www.dailyastorian.com Author: American Heart Association News With the end of this baseball season, so ended the long intertwined history of tobacco and baseball at more than one-third of all Major League stadiums. The unhealthy coupling started unraveling when it became evident that chewing tobacco resulted in deadly consequences for some players, such as legendary San Diego Padre Tony Gwynn who died of mouth cancer in 2014. Just months after Gwynn’s death, former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling announced he was being treated for oral cancer. Although Major League Baseball and the players’ union could not agree to take action, several cities have. Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco all have passed laws prohibiting tobacco use of any kind at sports venues. A statewide law in California will take effect before the 2017 season begins. This week, the Washington, D.C. City Council gave final approval to a measure that would end the use of all tobacco products – including smokeless tobacco like chew, dip and snuff – at all organized sporting events within the city, including Nationals Park. Councilmember Yvette Alexander said the move is needed to help protect children, who often look to sports professionals as role models, from taking up the habit. The measure will now be sent to Mayor Muriel Bowser to sign into law. Additionally, on Oct. 20, St. Petersburg, Florida, City Council Vice Chair Darden Rice introduced a proposal to ban smokeless tobacco products from the city’s athletic venues. The proposal [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-11-06T12:23:57-07:00November, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Bucking the trend: Cody Kiser, bronc rider

Source: www.thecalifornian.com Author: Champ Robinson Cody Kiser always had a fascination with the rodeo. The 25-year-old out of Carson City, Nevada competed in the high school rodeo as a bull rider, but Kiser used that term loosely. “I was more of a bull getter-oner than a bull rider,” Kiser joked. “I had a bad tendency of holding onto the rope until the very last second.” This time, that bad habit would cause significant injuries during a high school rodeo competition when Kiser was 14. “I hit the ground and I don’t know if I was on my chest or my back, but one foot (of the bull) landed on my face and the other on my chest or back,” Kiser said. The impact of the bull crushed Kiser’s left side of his face that broke his hinge bone and jaw bone and shattered his cheek bone. Kiser had to undergo plastic surgery to fix the injuries which required two plates and eight screws to be inserted to do so. Kiser spent a year recovering from the accident before returning to riding – this time horses. “Riding bucking horses was something I always wanted to do,” Kiser said. “My dad (P.D. Kiser), that’s actually what he did. I thought I’d give that a go and turns out I was a little better at it and now I’m here today.” When Kiser returned to riding, the nerves were there, but in a good way. “I think I was more excited than anything,” [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2017-01-11T17:06:26-07:00July, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Rodeo Competitors Fight Smokeless Tobacco Use at Laramie Jubilee Days

Source: www.y95country.comAuthor: Nick Learned Two professional rodeo contestants will ride exclusively for the Oral Cancer Foundation this weekend as part of Laramie Jubilee Days with a goal of preventing young fans from using smokeless tobacco. Cody Kiser and Carly Twisselman each aim to show rodeo fans, particularly the younger ones, chewing or using other forms of smokeless tobacco isn’t what makes them who they are. They promote the Foundation’s campaign which uses the slogan “Be Smart. Don’t Start.” Their approach is anything but confrontational or aggressive. Rather than encouraging people to quit, they hope to encourage young fans to never pick up the habit in the first place. And where some rely on statistics to make the point, Kiser and Twisselman take a different approach. Simply giving attention to young rodeo fans is a big part of getting their message across. “Its not the facts that they’re going to take home,” Kiser says. “Everybody knows that tobacco’s bad; you can get cancer and you can die. But the biggest impact that I see is just acknowledging those kids or acknowledging those people in the audience that want to know more, and you can show them what you can do without tobacco.” “I’m not out there to tell anybody how to live their life or preach to them about needing to quit,” Kiser says. “It’s not our place to do that,” Twisselman says. “People most of the time aren’t going to listen when you tell them something like that anyway.” The pair will be wearing Oral Cancer Foundation gear [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-07-08T11:15:42-07:00July, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Rodeo outreach program fights oral cancer

Source: www.olivesoftware.comAuthor: Stewart M. Green Carly Twisselman, a spokesperson with the Oral Cancer Foundation’s rodeo outreach program, and her horse Chanel travel the Western rodeo circuit and talk with kids about the dangers of using spit tobacco. Photo by Stewart M. Green Carly Twisselman brushed her horse Chanel outside a stall at the Norris-Penrose Event Center, home of the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo, which will roll into town July 13-16. “I’ve been rodeoing my whole life,” she said. “Now I do it at the professional level. This is my rookie year so I’m going really hard. I want to win the rookie title.” Summer is the busiest time of the year for cowgirls and cowboys. “We call it Cowboy Christmas, the 4th of July run,” she said. Twisselman and her travel partner have recently competed in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and just drove up from Pecos, Texas, to Colorado Springs for qualifiers. “It’s a crazy time,” she said. “Lots of traveling, but lots of money to be won.” Twisselman, a 30-year-old barrel racer, grew up on a ranch near San Luis Obispo on the central California coast. “My family’s been ranching there for seven generations,” she said. “I was on the back of a horse all the time. I was riding before I could walk.” While growing up in the Western ranching and rodeo culture, Twisselman was aware of the widespread use of spit tobacco by cowboys. “I’ve been around it my whole life and seen a lot [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-07-06T17:39:17-07:00July, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Reno Rodeo: Cody Kiser ‘The luckiest guy in the world’

Source: www.rgj.comAuthor: Jordan Wines 2016 Reno Rodeo competitor Cody Kiser has been competing in rodeos from the time he could walk. He began his career riding sheep and roping dummy heads on hay bales. As he grew, so did his competitive spirit. Kiser began riding bulls, but suffered an injury early in his career. "I had a bull step on my face, and I broke all the bones in the left side of my face," Kiser said. "I broke my jaw in two places and had my jaw wired shut. I had to get plastic surgery on my face to get it put back together." After recovering, Kiser began riding bucking horses, bareback specifically. He continued to compete while attending college at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he completed his degree in civil engineering. Splitting time between school and his life on the rodeo circuit presented its own set of challenges. "I did college rodeo for about two years, and I loved it. It just became way too much doing rodeo and school. I would put all my effort into schoolwork during the semester, and then would try to hit a couple of rodeos during school. During summer, I wouldn't take any classes, and I would hit the rodeo as hard as I could, which was still difficult because I had internships and jobs over the summer." Riding bareback is more than just an event for Kiser, as his father also rode bareback competitively, and Kiser still uses some of the same [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-06-20T11:56:24-07:00June, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Rodeo rider raising awareness of chewing tobacco and oral cancer

Source: www.krcrtv.comAuthor: Danielle Radin REDDING, Calif. - The Redding Rodeo kicked off Wednesday night with events like barrel racing, cattle roping and mutton busting. Professional barrel racer, Carly Twisselman said chewing tobacco is prominent at rodeos. She's teamed up with the Oral Cancer Foundation to try to change that. "We want to show children that you can follow your dreams, be who you want to be, pursue being a rodeo athlete and not chew tobacco," said Twisselman. Twisselman competes in rodeos across the country and sees chewing tobacco time and time again. She's teaching children chewing tobacco is not the 'cool thing to do.' She also wears letting on her sleeves every race that reads, "Be smart, don't start." She also has a brother who chews and had a health scare from it. "My brother's had signs of cancer of the mouth from chewing," said Twisselman. " "I just think that's the wrong message we should be sending to this children." According to the oral cancer foundation, there will be about 48,000 new cases of oral cancer in 2016 in the United States. 75 percent of all oral cancer patients use tobacco. They estimate nearly 10,000 people in the United States will die from oral cancer in 2016.

Charlotte Parker2016-05-19T11:39:43-07:00May, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Cowboy raises awareness for oral cancer

Source: www.kristv.comAuthor: Annie Sabo In an environment where smokeless and spit tobacco is prevalent, cowboy, Cody Kiser, says he feels like the luckiest guy in the world to represent the Oral Cancer Foundation. He told us, "I just happened to be in a class with a classmate. Their sister works for the oral cancer foundation...one thing led to another and they said we've been looking for a cowboy that doesn't smoke or chew and we'd love to be able to work out some kind of deal where we help you out you help us out...now I'm here." Although Cody has not been personally affected by the cancer, he wears a special patch on his shirt to raise awareness for the deadly disease. He said, "I'm very lucky that I haven't had any family members or friends be affected by oral cancer. I've made friends with people that have been now and it's a real eye opener." Since partnering with the oral cancer foundation, he works hard to promote this message: "Be smart don't start...we want to get out to the kids and fans who haven't smoking or chewing yet." Cody says the best part about working for the oral cancer foundation is serving as a role model for children. He told us, "You can be an elite athlete and an amazing cowboy without having to smoke or chew. That's our goal is to get to those kids before they do that. I just want to be a good role model for [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-04-15T10:41:00-07:00April, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Rodeo Insider: Cowboy takes it on himself to ride home a message

Source: www.star-telegram.comAuthor: Brett Hoffman Bronc rider Cody Kiser is trying to encourage cowboys to abstain from tobacco. Richard W. Rodriguez Star-Telegram In a day when rodeo riders are approaching the sport from an athletic standpoint more than ever, there’s a heavier emphasis on physical fitness and many competitors are taking a closer look at abstaining from substances such as alcohol and tobacco. One cowboy attempting to send a message about abstaining from frequent tobacco consumption is bareback bronc rider Cody Kiser. “A lot of these cowboys don’t smoke or chew, and if they do, it’s really rare,” Kiser said. “A lot of the guys consider themselves as athletes. So they want to keep their bodies at an optimum performance and they don’t want to do anything that would break them down.” When the Fort Worth Stock Show conducted the opening performance of its 16-day Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association show on Friday, Kiser turned in a bareback score of 80, the highest marking of the night. As he competed in the renowned rodeo, Kiser wore a patch on his shirt that said: “Oral Cancer Foundation.” The foundation’s website lists Kiser and a spokesman and states: “The western/rodeo environment has had a long-term relationship with tobacco, and until 2009 the PRCA had a lengthy history of tobacco sponsorship money. While that has ended, tobacco use, and smokeless/spit tobaccos still thrive in the sport. While adults have the right to make any lifestyle choice, they inadvertently expose impressionable young people to what [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-01-26T15:26:25-07:00January, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Cowboy with a statement on smoking

Source: www.vp-mi.comAuthor: Adam Robertson A cowboy stands against smoking Above: Cody Kiser holds on as his bronco goes wild during the Sanders County Fair rodeo; Kiser has teamed up with the Oral Cancer Foundation to raise awareness of the dangers of tobacco products through the rodeo. PLAINS - Tobacco use has been a big part of the rodeo for years; one participant of the Sanders County Fair is in the forefront of changing this, though, by promoting a tobacco-less lifestyle through the sport. Cody Kiser, a cowboy who rode bareback broncos at the Fair, has teamed up with the Oral Cancer Foundation’s ‘Be Smart, Don’t Start’ campaign to help teach kids about the dangers of tobacco products and oral cancer. According to their website, the campaign is part of the foundation’s rodeo outreach and attempting to “become engaged where the problem lives.” “While other [groups] are focused on getting users to quit, the Oral Cancer Foundation is reaching out to young people to not pick up the habit that they may see one of their rodeo heroes engaging in,” stated information provided by the OFC. To help with this, Kiser and the foundation have been working to present role models within the rodeo world who do not use tobacco products and actively advocate against their use. “How do you change that?” Kiser asked, regarding the tobacco-use culture. “I think that is in kids; you have to get to the kids and get their opinions changed.” The foundation’s main focus [...]

Charlotte Parker2015-09-11T11:24:26-07:00September, 2015|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Baseball and tobacco are a deadly mix

Source: www.bostonglobe.comAuthors: Dr. Howard Koh & Dr. Alan C. Woodward Unhealthy as it looks: David Ortiz spat out his “chew” after flying out against Tampa Bay in Game 3 of the 2008 ALCS at Fenway Park. Search the web for the phrase “tobacco and baseball” and you’ll find an association that dates back almost to the beginning of the sport. In the late 1800s, tobacco companies debuted baseball cards in cigarette packs. By the early 1900s, Bull Durham was advertising its chewing tobacco product on outfield fences. Today, cigarette smoking is prohibited or restricted in all Major League parks. Still, players, coaches, and others use smokeless tobacco, often referred to as “chew” or “dip,” in virtually every stadium across the country. But tobacco that is “smokeless” is not “harmless.” It contains at least 28 carcinogens and causes oral, pancreatic, and esophageal cancer, along with serious health problems such as heart disease, gum disease, tooth decay, and mouth lesions. The longstanding link between tobacco and baseball has led to tragic outcomes, for players and young fans alike. Baseball legend Babe Ruth died at age 53 of throat cancer after decades of dipping and chewing. Last summer, former Red Sox pitching great Curt Schilling announced that he had been treated for oral cancer, which he attributed to three decades of chewing tobacco. Sadly, his news came shortly after the death of Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, at age 54, after a lengthy fight with salivary gland cancer. Gwynn, too, attributed his [...]

Charlotte Parker2015-08-06T10:44:44-07:00August, 2015|Oral Cancer News|