smokeless tobacco

Reynolds targets smokers trying to quit with new snus campaign

Source: www.csnews.com Author: staff R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. wants cigarette smokers to consider Snus if they are trying to quit. According to the Winston-Salem Journal, the giant tobacco company has launched a national campaign marketing Camel Snus as a potential New Year’s Resolution solution for smokers. It’s the company’s first campaign aimed specifically at encouraging smokers to switch to Camel Snus, according to David Howard, a Reynolds spokesman. "A lot of adults make a decision to quit smoking this time of the year," said Howard in the report. "For those making that attempt, but still wanting the pleasure of tobacco, we’re saying ‘Here’s an option." Reynolds has run ads in large-circulation magazines such as Entertainment Weekly, People, Sports Illustrated, Time and US Weekly, as well as free and alternative publications, according to the report. In the "2011 smoke-free resolution" ad, Reynolds said it supports smokers who have decided to quit using tobacco. "But if you’re looking for smoke-free, spit-free, drama-free tobacco pleasure, Camel Snus is your answer," the ad’s text reads. The ads also contain a large warning that "smokeless tobacco is addictive." Howard said that the "drama-free" reference is aimed at adults who want to use tobacco products in restaurants, bars and other social outlets where smoking is discouraged or banned. Reynolds’ print ads are part of a "take the pleasure switch challenge" campaign tied to an age-restricted Camel Snus Web site. As might have been expected, some anti-smoking groups are upset by the ads. "The ads are trying [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-12-30T15:54:40-07:00December, 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|

Tobacco company pays $5M in groundbreaking case

Source: www.ctlawtribune.com Author: Thomas B. Scheffey Kelly June Hill, Executrix, et al. v. U.S. Smokeless Tobacco: The Altria Group, successor to tobacco marketer United States Smokeless Tobacco of Greenwich, has settled for $5 million a lawsuit filed by the estate of a North Carolina man who died of tongue cancer. The worker, Bobby Hill, initially went to an Ashville, N.C., lawyer, who referred his case to Bridgeport’s Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder. Partners Antonio Ponvert III and Christopher Bernard launched a state court wrongful death action in Connecticut. From the beginning, Ponvert said, Hill and his family wanted to draw attention to the danger of “dipping snuff” and to discourage youngsters from starting its addictive use. “It’s the first time a plaintiff has won a wrongful death chewing tobacco verdict or settlement in the history of the industry,” said Ponvert. Altria, based in Richmond, Va., also owns Philip Morris, and has a corporate policy of not settling any individual consumer cases, he added. Altria Group spokesman Steve Callahan said, “U.S. Smokeless Tobacco is honoring an agreement it made in this case prior to its acquisition by Altria….We have no current intention to settle cases like this in the future.” Historically, the tobacco industry has fiercely defended itself in the courts. And for decades, it denied that tobacco is addictive or a health risk. More recently, it has maintained that people know the risks of tobacco and they should take personal responsibility if they use it. In the industry, a no-settlement rule [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-12-12T09:51:00-07:00December, 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|

Smokeless Tobacco Rates on the Rise

Source: WebMD By: Bill Hendrick Even after a generation of warnings from public health officials about the dangers of tobacco use, about 20% of Americans still smoke cigarettes, a CDC report says. The report also shows the rate of smokers who also use smokeless tobacco, such as chewing tobacco and snuff, is rising. Using smokeless tobacco can keep the nicotine habit alive, making it even harder to quit than going cold turkey, Terry Pechacek, PhD, of the CDC, tells WebMD. More Americans are turning to smokeless tobacco because of laws that prohibit smoking in public places such as bars, restaurants, and airplanes -- and also because smokeless forms can be used in offices and on the job, Pechacek says. Immediate Benefits of Smoking Cessation The tobacco companies market smokeless tobacco as a substitute for smokers, but they don’t help people quit smoking, Pechacek tells WebMD. “We are making no progress in getting people to quit smoking,” he says. “This is a tragedy. Over 400,000 people are dying prematurely and won’t be able to walk their children down the aisle or see their grandchildren.” Contrary to common beliefs of smokers, the benefits of quitting start immediately, Pechacek tells WebMD. “We see lower rates for heart attacks within months of quitting,” he says. “And lower rates for lung cancer, too. Stopping a decline in lung function is one of the biggest benefits of quitting smoking.” The national smoking prevalence rate was 20.6% in 2008 and 2009. About 23% of males smoke, compared [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-11-22T12:24:26-07:00November, 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|

As taxes, restrictions cut smoking rates, industry pushes smokeless tobacco

Source: Fairwarning.org By: Patrick Corcoran Higher cigarette taxes and indoor smoking bans have significantly reduced smoking rates in the U.S., but tobacco companies are responding to flagging sales by aggressively marketing smokeless tobacco. A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows wide variations in the percentage of adults who smoke in different states, ranging from lows of 9.8 percent in Utah and 12.9 percent in California, to 25.6 percent in Kentucky and West Virginia. An analysis of the data by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an anti-smoking group, shows that states with the lowest smoking rates also had the highest cigarette taxes and bans on lighting up indoors, while states with the lowest taxes and least restrictions had the highest rates of smoking. For example, in the 11 states with the fewest smokers, percentage-wise, cigarette taxes average $2.19 per pack, versus 62 cents per pack in the 10 states with the highest smoking rates. But in response to restrictions on indoor smoking, tobacco companies have been pushing use of smokeless tobacco. For example, to promote its Marlboro Snus smokeless tobacco, Philip Morris uses the slogan: “So next time smoking isn’t an option, just reach for your Snus.” Rival R.J. Reynolds promotes its Camel Snus with a similar message: “Pleasure for wherever.” Smokeless tobacco use varied widely as well, with California recording the lowest rate (1.3 percent) and Wyoming the highest (9.1 percent) of adult users. The CDC highlighted the need to attack smoking and other tobacco [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-11-14T08:15:55-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Congressman wants chewing tobacco thrown out of World Series

Source: The Hill, The Washington Scene By: Jordan Fabian With the World Series set to begin Wednesday night, a New Jersey congressman wants the participating teams to give chewing tobacco the boot from their dugouts. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D) called on the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants to eschew their use of smokeless tobacco during the Fall Classic, saying it sets a bad example for kids. "Asking @MLB World Series teams to ban chewing tobacco. It hurts more than players when so many young ppl watch & are influenced by players," the congressman said on Twitter. Pallone has long been an opponent of the use of chewing tobacco in the sport, citing its negative health effects and poor example for children. The 11-term congressman held a hearing on the issue in April, at which House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) called on Major League Baseball to ban the use of smokeless tobacco. A representative from the baseball players union opposed the move, drawing a contrast between cigarettes and chewing tobacco. Scrutiny of players' use of the tobacco products, however, re-emerged this month after Hall of Fame right fielder Tony Gwynn was diagnosed with a form of mouth cancer. Gwynn, who spent his entire 20-year career with the San Diego Padres, openly speculated that it resulted from his use of chewing tobacco.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-10-27T10:43:14-07:00October, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Refurbished York plant churning out Marlboro Snus, a new smokeless tobacco product

Source: www.dailypress.com Author: Jon Cawley From outside the non-descript facility on Merrimac Trail nothing indicates it's home to Marlboro Snus, a spit-less, smokeless tobacco product that company officials say is gaining significant market traction. Inside, processed tobacco is finely ground, cooked, flavored, pouched and packaged by automated machinery in sanitary "clean rooms." High-speed robots can produce 150 Snus packages — each containing six individual pouches of tobacco — per minute, officials said during a recent plant tour. The York manufacturing center is the only place making Snus (pronounced snoose). The tobacco product has been in limited production since late 2007 but began nationwide distribution in March. That marks a big turnaround for the once-idle York County plant that underwent a $100 million renovation and expansion beginning in 2006 and now employs 17 salaried and 30 hourly workers along with 54 contractors. During renovations, Philip Morris USA gutted the facility, located across from Anheuser Busch's Williamsburg-area brewery. It had been closed for about three years since the company discontinued production of an electrically heated smoking device. The facility was expanded by 33,000 square feet to 139,000 square feet and fitted with high-tech machinery specific to making and packaging Snus. That construction was partly funded by a $650,000 state and county grant, said Ed Tucker, a director with the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Manufacturing Co. Tucker said Snus and its packaging are discreet and designed to appeal to consumers as smoking restrictions continue to tighten. He said that because Snus is cooked instead [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-10-02T14:28:58-07:00October, 2010|Oral Cancer News|