Gum tobacco trial sales rile opponents
11/3/2003 Japan Mainichi Shimbun Medical organizations and antismoking groups are up fuming over a trial "tobacco gum" product that is being sold in Japan, demanding that health authorities remove it from shelves. Mainichi Shimbun A packet of the controversial tobacco gum. The Firebreak brand tobacco gum, a Swedish-produced product, is legally classified as tobacco but has similar shape and flavor to chewing gum. The Ministry of Finance approved the product on Sept. 11 and about 60,000 packets have already been imported into the country. Since the gum doesn't produce any smoke it is being marketed as a product that allows people to enjoy tobacco without having to worry about others. One piece of gum contains one milligram of nicotine, and each piece is advertised as being the equivalent of one cigarette, but lasting for about 20 minutes. The gum has a mint flavor, but a spicier flavor comes out when it is chewed. However, critics say that since the ingredients of the tobacco go straight into people's mouths, harmful ingredients are more easily absorbed compared with rolled tobacco. They say this could lead to oral cancer. On Nov. 4, the Japanese Society for Dental Health and the Japanese Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons requested that the Finance Ministry withdraw approval of the product. Representatives of an antismoking association also demanded that the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, which deals with food product safety, take measures against the gum as a harmful product. Kazunori Nakakuki, a part-time lecturer at [...]