Tobacco Documents Online

Wednesday,Juiy.9, 19801 ,Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57.1.02 Doctor: Snuff,, Chewi g tobacco also risky CHICAGO (AP) --Cigarette and prOduCe such side effects as hie-! New England Jotzrn~l 'of, ..Medi-. companies, denied ~hat chewln.g or cigar sntokers who switch to chew- ing.tobacco or snuff in the hopes of avoiding lung cancer may instead, be riskihg dangerous sores in .their mouths and. t~roat~, a doctor Says. Indeed, snuff and cheering tobac- co may prove even more dangerous than cigarette smoking to the deli- cate linings ~f the mouth and esoph- agus, according to Dr. Alan Blunt, a family physician specializing in community health here. ' Blum's warqing wa.~ printed in~ the July 11 issue of the Journal. of the American Medical Association as a response to a question from ~. journal reader. He served as an AMA fellow, a sort. of resident ex- pert~ f~..r this issue of the' maga- zine, " In the same issue, a major articie . discussed so-called "smokeless to- bacco" p~oducts and their possible " tisefulness in weaning nicotine ad:~ dicts from cigarette J~bits~ / Some researchers .believe a ni~o-~ fine gum, manufactured in Sweden, I may. help smokers break the habit. ~ The article said previous research! showed the gum increases nicotine levels in the blood near• to those pro- duped by cigarettes, thereby satis- fying some of the craving for ciga- ~'ettes. But the gum "r~pu~edly taste~" somewhat vile" and is known to cups, nausea, dizziness and a burn-I cine. • dipping is harmful. "throat,ing sensationthe articleat th~said.back, of .the i And the U.S. Dep'artment of.Agri- "SmokeleSs tobacco has not been ~ ". ~ culture noted a 6 percent~increase . found, scientifically as a cause of' .. Blum wrote that ~nuff can cause in tobacco chewing recently, Blum any oral lesion in humans including gum disease, tooth abrasion and. said.' white Patches on the throat which • c~in become cancerous. He also said ,chewing tobacco can lead to cancer .iof th~ mouth, throat and digestive ~tract. ' " '. Blum said he based ~is warnings 'on various research ~tudies, includ- !zng on.e pro~ect znvol~zng mor'F~Izan 2,000 patients in India who used. chewing to.bacco, a product he con, ceded may contain different ingreo. dients than American tobacco~. • Cheering tobacco has been a long-' time f.avorite of baseball players, Pittsburgh Piratesmanager Chuck Tanner switched from cigars'to chewing.tobacco. B.oston Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk ,makes mercials ~or one bran~l. Other ballplayers favor snuff. It's cleanei" than chewing tobacco, they don't hhve to spit and it apparently gives as much satisfaction. " • B~th products are beiz/g adver- tised by some manufacturers as safe alternatives to smoking, and they are gaining popularity.: Snuff-dipping -- placing "pul: verized toba~c.o between the gum and cheek --.reportedly is on the in- crease among Southern youths, ac- :c.ording to a recent' articl~ in the ~ . ;cancer, with respect to any study .. A Spokesman for for.the Smoke- cited," said Gerry Gilmartin, ex- less Tobacco Co.uncil,~a trade group " ecUtive vice president of the ~vhich represents .some tobacco _group.