nicotine

More Indians chew tobacco blend, get oral cancer

Source: Boston.com By: Adi Narayan MUMBAI — Safiq Shaikh was 13 when he began chewing a blend of tobacco, areca nut, and spices that jolted him awake when his job at a textile loom got too dreary. Five years later, doctors in Mumbai lopped off his tongue to halt the cancer that was spreading through his mouth. Shaikh believed the fragrant, granular mixture he chewed, known in India as gutka, was a harmless stimulant and at first he ignored the milky lump growing inside his mouth. Now Shaikh is one of about 200,000 Indians diagnosed with a tobacco-related malignancy this year, said his surgeon, Pankaj Chaturvedi. India now has the highest number of oral cancers in the world, after a group of entrepreneurs known locally as “gutka barons’’ turned a 400-year-old tobacco product hand-rolled in betel leaves into a spicy blend sold for 2 cents on street corners from Bangalore to New Delhi. Sales of chewing tobacco, worth $4.6 billion in 2004, are on track to double by 2014, according to Datamonitor, a branch of the international research firm based in Hyderabad, India. The combination of tobacco and areca nut makes gutka and its hand-made ancestor, known as paan, addictive, scientists said. Areca nut is the fourth-most commonly used psychoactive substance in the world after tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine, according to the World Health Organization. “Now you have an industrial version of a traditional thing’’ spurring demand, said Chaturvedi, who works at Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, Asia’s largest cancer [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-12-13T11:35:06-07:00December, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Burgeoning market for smokeless tobacco products

Source: www.acsh.org Author: staff Now for some more good news on the harm reduction front: While cigarette sales have fallen by 17 percent since 2005 due to robust health campaigns and steeper taxes, smokeless tobacco products sales have grown by an annual rate of approximately 7 percent, reports The Chicago Tribune. The increase in sales of smokeless tobacco products can be partially attributed to their invisibility. For addicted smokers stuck in a smoke-free office environment all day long, these products relieve them of their nicotine craving. Economic factors have also been responsible for the rise in smokeless tobacco sales since a can of premium Swedish snus can run not much more than half the cost of a pack of Marlboro cigarettes in places where state, county and city excise taxes are high. Perhaps the most intriguing element to this story is that the use of smokeless tobacco products is increasing even though advertisers aren’t allowed to market them as a safer alternative to cigarettes. “I wonder how these people get the message,” ponders ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. Even though medical experts agree that quitting tobacco altogether is the ideal scenario, scientists admit that smokeless tobacco products are much less harmful than cigarettes. But the potential benefit of these products, says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross, is often overshadowed by anti-tobacco camps that focus on the possibility of increased risks of oral cancer from smokeless tobacco products. Dr. Ross notes that this risk “is essentially nil in the kinds of highly purified [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-12-12T10:03:39-07:00December, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Electronic nicotine delivery systems: is there a need for regulation?

Source: http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/ Author: Anna Trtchounian, Prue Talbot Purpose: Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) purport to deliver nicotine to the lungs of smokers. Five brands of ENDS were evaluated for design features, accuracy and clarity of labeling and quality of instruction manuals and associated print material supplied with products or on manufacturers' websites. Methods: ENDS were purchased from online vendors and analyzed for various parameters. Results: While the basic design of ENDS was similar across brands, specific design features varied significantly. Fluid contained in cartridge reservoirs readily leaked out of most brands, and it was difficult to assemble or disassemble ENDS without touching nicotine-containing fluid. Two brands had designs that helped lessen this problem. Labeling of cartridges was very poor; labelling of some cartridge wrappers was better than labelling of cartridges. In general, packs of replacement cartridges were better labelled than the wrappers or cartridges, but most packs lacked cartridge content and warning information, and sometimes packs had confusing information. Used cartridges contained fluid, and disposal of nicotine-containing cartridges was not adequately addressed on websites or in manuals. Orders were sometimes filled incorrectly, and safety features did not always function properly. Print and internet material often contained information or made claims for which there is currently no scientific support. Conclusions: Design flaws, lack of adequate labeling and concerns about quality control and health issues indicate that regulators should consider removing ENDS from the market until their safety can be adequately evaluated. Authors affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, University of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-12-11T06:13:33-07:00December, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Smokeless tobacco picking up steam — Products growing in popularity as smokers turn to cheaper and less obtrusive alternatives

Source: Los Angeles Times By: Julie Wernau Ron Carroll prefers to smoke cigars and pipes. But when he can't do that he says he manages to unobtrusively get his nicotine fix by slipping a packet of tobacco, about the size of a teabag, under his upper lip. "I use it all the time — movies, planes," said the Chicagoan, who adds that he likes the fact he can remove the packet as easily as a piece of gum. There's no chewing, spitting or mess, he says. "It's discreet, and you don't look like an addict, he said. "Smoking's definitely more about the flavor; the whole experience,'' Carroll said. "With this, it's just taking the edge off." Cigarette sales by volume have plummeted 17 percent from 2005, partly the result of health warnings and bans on smoking in public places as well as taxation by local and federal governments. And the heat on cigarette smokers is expected to intensify as the federal Food and Drug Administration requires images of corpses and diseased lungs to be featured on cigarette packs in two years. Smokeless tobacco products — which come in shapes ranging from toothpicks to orbs and in flavors from cherry to peach — so far have not met with the same intense scrutiny, although there have been some changes. In June, the FDA increased the size of warning labels on smokeless products. "This product is addictive" and "This product is not a safe alternative to cigarettes,'' say the warnings. Scientists say [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-12-07T12:42:38-07:00December, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

First wrongful death settlement from chewing tobacco won by plaintiff

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A smokeless tobacco company has agreed to pay $5 million to the family of a man who died of mouth cancer in what the family's attorney and an expert called the first wrongful death settlement from chewing tobacco. Attorney Antonio Ponvert III told The Associated Press on Tuesday that U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. agreed to pay $5 million to the family of Bobby Hill of Canton, N.C. "This company manufactures and sells a dangerous and defective product that it knows causes addiction, disease and death in consumers who use it as intended," Ponvert said. The company, which makes Copenhagen and Skoal brands and was headquartered in Greenwich, Conn. before it was acquired by Altria last year, confirmed the settlement in a regulatory filing, but declined further comment. Mark Gottlieb, director of the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern School of Law in Boston, said he believes it's the first case of its kind and predicted more lawsuits involving smokeless tobacco. "I think this is sort of a wakeup call to the plaintiff's bar that there are a lot of victims of smokeless tobacco use out there and it's possible these cases can be successful," Gottlieb said. Past lawsuits against smokeless tobacco makers were not successful and lawyers focused more on cigarette makers due to stronger evidence to back up their claims even though smokeless tobacco is harmful as well, Gottlieb said. "The cigarette is sort of the dirty needle of nicotine delivery," Gottlieb said. Tobacco [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-12-08T09:15:35-07:00December, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Snus smokeless tobacco: Less harmful than cigarettes, but not safe.

Source: WebMD By: Daniel J. DeNoon If you use snus, do you win or lose? Snus -- alternately pronounced snoose or snooze -- is a smokeless, flavored tobacco product very different from snuff. When placed between cheek and gum, it doesn't make you spit. Even its critics admit that snus is less harmful than other forms of smokeless tobacco. And it is far less harmful than cigarette smoking. So is snus a good thing? It would be a good thing if everyone who smoked cigarettes or dipped snuff switched to snus instead. It would be a good thing if snus were a way station on the road to quitting all forms of tobacco. It would even be a good thing if kids who would have become smokers became snus users instead. But despite all of that, mounting evidence suggests snus isn't a good thing -- and may be far worse than they appear. Snus: Less Harmful, But Not Safe Cigarettes are the world's most efficient nicotine delivery device. They are also the most deadly. Many of the most dangerous byproducts of cigarettes are created during the burning process. Smokeless tobacco products obviously don't burn. But smokeless tobacco is a major cause of oral cancer, pancreatic cancer, and esophageal cancer. Much of this risk comes from cancer-causing chemicals called nitrosamines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). And snuff products actually deliver more cancer-causing nitrosamines than cigarettes do. But nitrosamine content is far lower in snus than in snuff, says Stephen S. Hecht, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-11-22T12:16:34-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Nicotine-delivering e-cigarettes under fire

Source: Courier Journal By: Patrick Howington Sean Howard smoked cigarettes for 14 years until he found something new — an electronic cigarette that delivers the nicotine he craves but not the deadly toxins from cigarette smoke. Now Howard, 28, of Lexington, said he breathes better, can exercise again, and “I don’t smell like a cigarette.” A server at a local country club, Howard said he has gone back and tried cigarettes a couple of times in the year since he quit them, “and now I can’t stand the things. … I actually don’t know how I smoked them.” Howard is among the growing number of advocates of e-cigarettes — plastic or metal tubes that contain a nicotine solution but no tobacco. A battery heats the liquid into a vapor for inhaling. Sold under names like “Health E-Cigarettes” and “SmokeAnywhere” that suggest harmlessness and the ability to evade indoor smoking bans, e-cigarettes don’t require matches and don’t emit toxic smoke — but they’ve still drawn plenty of fire. In court filings and enforcement actions, federal regulators and some states have lined up with medical organizations who say e-cigarettes’ safety hasn’t been proved. While their sale is legal in most of the U.S., including Kentucky and Indiana, several states have banned e-cigarettes or are considering it. (They are not covered under Louisville and Lexington’s indoor smoking bans, though, and there are no current plans to add them.) Advocates of the product, and some medical experts, say the devices could save thousands of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-10-22T14:28:38-07:00October, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Smokeless tobacco won’t help smokers quit

Source: www.webmd.com Author: Bill Hendrick Smokeless tobacco products -- whether chewed or used as dry or moist snuff -- may increase the risk of heart attack, fatal stroke and certain cancers, says a new policy statement published online in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. "No tobacco product is safe to consume," Mariann Piano, PhD, lead writer of the policy statement and a professor in the department of behavioral health science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, says in a news release. The notion that smokeless tobacco may help reduce the rate of cigarette smoking is based in part on Swedish research, which showed a significant decline in smoking by Swedish men between 1976 and 2002 that corresponded with an increase in the use of smokeless tobacco. But in similar research in the U.S., the opposite was found to be true, the article says. There was no reduction in smoking rates among people who used smokeless tobacco products. Nicotine-Replacement Therapy Piano says that smokers trying to kick the habit might want to try nicotine-replacement therapy, by chewing nicotine gum or using a nicotine patch that can be attached to the skin, rather than using smokeless tobacco products. Piano tells WebMD that most people who use nicotine-replacement therapy do so for short periods of time, and it doesn't appear to be as addictive as smokeless tobacco "because of slower absorption, lower doses of nicotine, greater cost, lack of flavoring, sociocultural influences" or a combination of such factors. She says [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-09-14T09:06:26-07:00September, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

E-cigarettes: battle continues

Source: www.miamiherald.com Author: staff A Broward e-cigarette distributor gave up a legal fight with Oregon over the sale of its products there, as the industry waits to see if it will sell its products as a drug device or tobacco product. A leading distributor of electronic cigarettes, Weston-based Smoking Everywhere, has agreed to halt sales in Oregon, Attorney General John Kroger announced Monday. The Oregon official said Smoking Everywhere did not seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval and provides no evidence to support claims that "e-cigarettes'' are a safe alternative to conventional tobacco products. He also expressed concern that the company geared its marketing toward young people. Oregon last year became the first state to go to court to block the sale of the devices, some of which are designed to look like traditional cigarettes. Smoking Everywhere's electronic cigarettes have a battery-powered heating element and a replaceable plastic cartridge that contains chemicals, including liquid nicotine. The heat vaporizes the liquid for inhalation. In settling the suit, Smoking Everywhere admitted violating Oregon's Unlawful Trade Practices Act. Besides no longer selling its products there, the company agreed to pay more than $95,000 to the Oregon Department of Justice. Elico Taieb, the company president, will pay another $25,000 and is barred from doing any business in Oregon that involves tobacco, nicotine or electronic cigarettes. Taieb's attorney, Jason Weaver, said, ``We believe the product is safe,'' and fought with Oregon on the premise of the product being sold when it was not approved [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-08-29T07:53:17-07:00August, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

New types of smokeless tobacco present growing risks for youth: products mistaken for candy

Source: thenationshealth.aphapublications.org Author: Kim Krisberg The decline in the U.S. smoking rate is arguably one of the biggest achievements in the nation’s public health history. But as public health makes inroads, the tobacco industry is pushing back, offering new ways to deliver nicotine and hook lifelong customers. As nonsmoking ordinances sweep across the country, tobacco manufacturers are marketing new smokeless and spitless tobacco products, often selling them as complementary products to cigarettes — pushing the message that such “novel” tobacco products can deliver a nicotine fix whether smoking is allowed or not. Going by brand names such as Orbs, Snus and Taboka, the products are smokeless and spitless, often dissolving in a user’s mouth. For example, Marlboro Snus comes in a teabag-like pouch that a user puts between the cheek and gum and then discards after about 30 minutes. Camel Orbs look similar to small pieces of candy — almost like a Tic Tac — come in flavors such as “fresh” and “mellow,” and dissolve in a user’s mouth. Camel Sticks and Camel Strips also dissolve in a user’s mouth. A recent Camel Snus ad reads “Boldly Go Everywhere” and “Break Free.” While such products have yet to catch on in a significant way in the United States, public health advocates warn not to underestimate the influence of tobacco marketing, especially in regard to young people. They also warn that tobacco companies seem to be portraying the novel products as a “healthier” alternative to cigarettes or as a quitting aid. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-08-04T12:51:16-07:00August, 2010|Oral Cancer News|