Taking Aim at the Professional Rodeo Circuit’s Drug of Choice
6/11/2004 CODY, WY By TIMOTHY EGAN The New York Times That Copenhagen Cowboy, as they called Kent Cooper, was a saddle bronc rider on the rodeo circuit, one of the best in the world at trying to keep his spurs high on a horse that wanted no part of him. When he died two years ago at 47, the throat cancer was so bad it wrapped around his jugular vein and got into his brain. His name lives on, here in the place that calls itself the rodeo capital of the world, and in every town where cowboys wrestle animals under starry skies. But Mr. Cooper's legacy may be something more unsettling than his many winning rides. The Cooper family has sued the nation's leading maker of chewing tobacco, which is also the oldest sponsor of rodeo, charging that the company addicted Mr. Cooper to a cancer-causing product without adequate warning about its hazards. Smokeless tobacco, known as chew or spit, is the drug of choice on the bull and bronc circuit, given away at sampling tents, promoted through banners and college scholarships and by charismatic champions who tell people it is part of Western culture. Mr. Cooper's ex-wife, Susan Smith, and a small but growing number of cowboys say smokeless tobacco has made tooth-stained addicts out of too many rodeo riders and has no place in a fast-growing sport that appeals to families. "Kent was a billboard for tobacco," Ms. Smith said. "They all are. But I wish people [...]