snus – Page 2 – Oral Cancer News

New study claims children who use snus before age 16 are more likely to become cigarette smokers

Source: Reuters Health Author: Shereen Jegtvig Norwegians who started using snus before age 16 were more likely to become cigarette smokers than those who started using snus later in life, according to a new study. Snus is moist smokeless tobacco developed in Sweden. It's contained in a small pouch, and unlike regular chewing tobacco, it doesn't make the user spit. Research suggests snus has lower levels of chemicals called nitrosamines than cigarettes and may be less harmful. In Norway, snus has become a smoking cessation aid and most older snus users are former smokers. But snus is also becoming increasingly popular among young Norwegian adults, many of whom have not smoked cigarettes. And although research is divided, the current thinking is that snus use reduces the likelihood of taking up smoking. The authors of the new study wanted to know more about when people start using snus, to see if that ties into whether they also begin smoking cigarettes. "I already knew about the research investigating associations between snus use and later smoking, but discovered that snus debut age had not been mentioned in that research," Ingeborg Lund told Reuters Health in an email. Lund is a researcher with the Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research - SIRUS, in Oslo. She and her colleague Janne Scheffels published their study in Nicotine and Tobacco Research. The researchers analyzed surveys of Norwegian teenagers and adults conducted from 2005 to 2011. Out of 8,313 people, 409 were long-term snus users who had started using snus before [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-02-18T17:17:10-07:00February, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Tobacco Companies Target Youth, Mislead Public About Smokeless Products In Order To Maintain Profits

Source: Medical DailyPublished: September 10,2013By: Anthony Rivas British American Tobacco (BAT), the maker of Lucky Strike, Dunhill, and Pall Mall cigarettes, has recently spent some time promoting its smokeless tobacco brands, saying that snus, a moist tobacco that’s typically placed under the upper lip, is “at least 90 percent less harmful than smoking cigarettes.” But new research, meant to serve as information for tobacco policy in the European Union (EU), finds that BAT and other tobacco companies aren’t really concerned about the public’s health and, rather, are more concerned about maintaining profits should cigarette sales decline. Snus, one of the many forms of smokeless tobacco, is currently banned in every country in the EU except for Sweden. Researchers with the UK Center for Tobacco Control Studies were tasked with finding information regarding transnational tobacco companies’ interests in smokeless tobacco from the 1970s to the present, to better inform policymakers in their decision, according to a statement. It's All For The Profits By comparing the tobacco industry’s internal documents to its campaigns to help reduce public harm with smokeless tobacco, the researchers found that “there is clear evidence that [British American Tobacco’s] early interest in introducing [smokeless tobacco] in Europe was based on the potential for creating an alternative form of tobacco use in light of declining cigarette sales and social restrictions on smoking, with young people a key target,” they wrote. BAT’s internal documents note cigarettes’ declining popularity, saying, “We have no wish to aid or hasten any decline in cigarette [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-09-11T15:59:57-07:00September, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Top EU official resigns after snus bribe probe

Source: www.thelocal.se A complaint by Swedish Match about a suspected bribe meant to influence European tobacco policy has resulted in the resignation of EU health commissioner John Dalli, the European Union's top health official. "Commissioner John Dalli has today announced his resignation as a member of the Commission, with immediate effect," the European Commission announced in a statement released on Tuesday. Dalli's resignation, the first for a member of the Commission since 1999, came following the release on Monday of report detailing the findings of an investigation carried out by the EU's anti-fraud office, OLAF, into a complaint filed by Swedish tobacco company Swedish Match in May 2012. The complaint alleged that a Maltese entrepreneur sought to leverage his connections with Dalli, also of Malta, in order to "gain financial advantages" from Swedish Match in exchange for attempting to influence "a possible future legislative proposal on tobacco products, in particular on the EU export ban on snus". Snus – also known as Swedish snuff – is a tobacco product invented in Sweden in the early 1800s which has gained in popularity in Sweden after smoking was banned in restaurants in 2005. The sale of snus is outlawed in the European Union, but due to exemptions, it is still manufactured and consumed primarily in Norway and Sweden. The European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Consumers Protection recently unveiled a proposal that would ban all smoke-free tobacco products outside of Sweden. The Swedish government has for years been trying to sway the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-10-23T07:45:13-07:00October, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Researchers Identify Chemical Linked to Oral Cancer Risk in Smokeless Tobacco

By Denise Mann WebMD Health News Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD Aug. 22, 2012 -- Dip, chew, snuff, and other types of smokeless tobacco are known to increase risk for oral cancer. Now new research in rats is zeroing in on exactly how this may occur. The findings were presented at the American Chemical Society's annual meeting in Philadelphia. The newly identified cancer-causing culprit in these products is (S)-NNN. It is part of a larger family of chemicals called nitrosamines. Nitrosamines are also found in such foods as beer and bacon. They form naturally in the stomach when people eat foods containing high levels of nitrite. Nitrosamine levels in smokeless tobacco are far higher than in food, according to a prepared statement. Researchers fed rats a low dose of two forms of chemicals found in smokeless tobacco for 17 months. The doses were about equivalent to a person who used half a tin of smokeless tobacco every day for 30 years. (S)-NNN seemed to cause large numbers of oral and esophageal tumors in the rats, the study shows. "There is a very specific oral carcinogen in smokeless tobacco and it is potent," says researcher Silvia Balbo, PhD. She is a cancer researcher at the Masonic Cancer Center of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. This compound is found in all smokeless tobacco products, including those that look like breath mints, strips, or candy, and “snus,” which are pouches filled with tobacco that are placed between the upper lip and gum. [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-08-23T09:19:37-07:00August, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Swedish Match Announces Market Expansion for General Snus

Swedish Match today announced it has expanded into 7 additional US markets with its General brand Swedish snus. General is the number #1 selling snus in the world and the flagship brand for Swedish Match. Now General will be available in convenience stores and tobacco outlets in the metropolitan areas of New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Denver, Nashville and throughout the state of Ohio with its two new flavors in the product assortment, Nordic Mint and Classic Blend. Those flavors were launched in Chicago, Dallas and Philadelphia in mid-2011. "These particular markets were chosen because they meet a number of important criteria to maximize the success of the General brand - from local smoking restrictions to the number of adult tobacco consumers and the potential opportunity for the snus category as a whole," according to Clark Darrah, Vice President Next Generation Products. General is authentic Swedish snus crafted from a sophisticated blend of premium tobaccos using a unique GothiaTek® production process ensuring the highest measure of quality. Snus is sold in pouches that are placed inconspicuously under the user's upper lip, and is a form of smokefree and spit free tobacco that is popular among white-collar professionals throughout Scandinavia, where it first originated in the early 19th century. While the category is still young in the United States, snus has enjoyed tremendous growth of over 225% since its first introduction domestically in 2006 and is now about 6% of the smokeless tobacco category. Darrah adds, "Adult tobacco consumers are [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-04-06T09:44:02-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Tobacco Makers Must List Ingredients, Prove Safety Claims

Source: Businessweek.com Tobacco companies will have to begin reporting the amount of unsafe chemicals in their products and prove their so-called lower-risk alternatives to smoking such as snuff are actually safer, U.S. regulators said. The Food and Drug Administration moved today to implement pieces of a 2009 law giving the agency the authority to regulate tobacco products. The FDA released preliminary guidelines for the industry that it says can educate consumers on exactly what is in cigarettes, such as ammonia and formaldehyde, and police claims that certain tobacco products may be safer than others. The agency will share information on chemical amounts with the public within a year, Lawrence Deyton, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a telephone call with reporters. On the issue of less-risky tobacco items, the draft guidelines set up two categories: one with a higher evidence standard that lets companies claim less harm than cigarettes; and another with a lower standard that permits companies to market products as reducing exposure to unsafe ingredients. “We are forging new territory to ensure that tobacco companies provide accurate information and do not mislead American consumers,” FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in a statement. “We are committed to stopping such practices that may cause people to start or continue using tobacco products that could lead to preventable disease and death.” 93 Chemicals The FDA released a list of 93 chemicals that tobacco makers would have to report the quantity of in their products. The FDA is studying [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-04-02T09:56:47-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

UPDATE 1-Swedish Match pushes ahead with snus in the U.S

Source: Reuters.com STOCKHOLM, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Tobacco products group Swedish Match will step up promotion of moist Swedish-style snuff, called snus, in the United States this year where it expect the market to grow faster than its Scandinavian home territory. Snus, a tobacco product put under the lip and sucked, mostly in pouches, is the group's main cash cow, sold mainly in Scandinavia. Swedish Match wants to differentiate itself in the larger U.S. market by growing sales of snus, which is pasteurized and has a different texture and taste to fermented U.S.-style snuff. "During 2012, we will continue to invest for growth. In the U.S. we will expand distribution and invest further in marketing activities ...," said Swedish Match, which is the largest producer of snus in Sweden. The product is banned in the rest of the European Union. Swedish Match, a rival to Altria Group Inc, Reynolds American Inc and BAT., also makes cigars. Marketing costs for snus in the U.S. weighed on fourth-quarter profit, the group said on Wednesday. Operating profit fell to 1.02 billion crowns ($153.6 million) from a year-earlier 1.42 billion, against a mean forecast for 1.03 billion in a Reuters poll of analysts. It said significantly higher international snus investments weighed on the profit margin for snuff and snus, which make up more than half of profit. The margin fell to 45.9 percent from 48.1 percent, well below a forecast for 47.6 percent. As well as aiming at the U.S. market, its venture with [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-24T10:27:50-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

How online sales and promotion of snus contravenes current European Union legislation

Source: BMJ Journal Abstract Context The European Union (EU) Tobacco Products Directive that bans sales of snus (a form of oral tobacco) in EU countries other than Sweden is currently under review. Major tobacco companies favour the ban being overturned. This study aims to explore compliance with the current ban on snus sales and examines the conduct of online snus vendors, including their compliance with two other EU Directives on excise and tobacco advertising and Swedish legislation banning sales of snus outside Sweden. Methods To determine who is currently distributing snus via the internet in the EU, searches were carried out in Google, followed by searches in the WHOIS and Amadeus databases. Five online test purchases of snus were made in each of 10 EU Member States using a standardised protocol. Feedback from the test purchases and further analysis of the websites accessed for test purchases were used to critically examine snus retailers' conduct. Results The majority of online vendors operate from Sweden and target non-Swedish EU citizens. Test purchases were successfully made in all 10 EU Member States; of 43 orders placed, only two failed. Age verification relied only on self-report. The majority of sales applied Swedish taxes, contrary to EU requirements. Copious sales promotion activities, many price based, are incorporated in these websites contravening the EU regulation, and three test purchases were delivered with gifts. Conclusions Snus is currently being sold on the single market via the internet in contravention of Swedish legislation and three EU Directives. [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-01-25T16:52:56-07:00January, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Kentucky Cancer Center Urges Smokers to Switch to Smoke-Free Tobacco. But is it Really a Better Option?

Source: Yourlife.USAtoday.com In the smoker-heavy state of Kentucky, a cancer center is suggesting something that most health experts won't and the tobacco industry can't: If you really want to quit, switch to smoke-free tobacco. The James Graham Brown Cancer Center and the University of Louisville are aiming their "Switch and Quit" campaign at the city of Owensboro. It uses print, radio, billboard and other advertising to urge smokers to swap their cigarettes for smokeless tobacco and other products that do not deliver nicotine by smoke. Supporters say smokers who switch are more likely to give up cigarettes than those who use other methods such as nicotine patches, and that smokeless tobacco carries less risk of disease than cigarettes do. "We need something that works better than what we have," said Dr. Donald Miller, an oncologist and director of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, which supports the effort along with the University of Louisville. "This is as reasonable a scientific hypothesis as anybody has come up with and it needs to be tried." The campaign runs counter to the prevailing opinion of the public health community, which holds that there is no safe way to use tobacco. Federal researchers, however, have begun to at least consider the idea that smokers might be better off going smokeless. The National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health says on its website that the use of all tobacco products "should be strongly discouraged," and that there is "no scientific evidence that using [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-10-31T10:04:54-07:00October, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

New Smokeless Tobacco from Sweden is Gaining Popularity in the US

Source: DrugFree.org A type of smokeless tobacco popular in Sweden called snus is growing in popularity in the United States. While most recognize that it is a safer alternative to cigarettes or older forms of smokeless tobacco, others are concerned that it will attract young people, becoming a steppingstone to cigarettes, says a researcher who spoke this week at the Smokeless Tobacco Summit in Austin, TX. There is also concern that smokers may use snus in places where they can’t smoke, which will encourage them to keep smoking instead of quitting, says Lois Biener, PhD, Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychology at the University Of Massachusetts – Boston and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Survey Research, University Of Massachusetts – Boston. Snus (pronounced snoos) was first introduced in several U.S. test markets in 2006, and has been available nationwide since 2009. It is sold under several brands including Marlboro Snus and Camel Snus. The product is different from other types of smokeless tobacco in several important ways, Dr. Biener says. Snus is manufactured using a process that makes it lower in carcinogens called tobacco-specific nitrosamines. Snus also doesn’t stimulate saliva the way that snuff does and thus doesn’t require spitting. A person using snus puts a small pouch filled with the product between the lip and the gum. Dr. Biener’s research has shown that the primary group of snus users in the United States is male smokers. “There is very little trial of the product among females and virtually [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-16T11:25:33-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|