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Smokeless Tobacco Myths
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18 February 2010
Smokeless Tobacco Myths
FACT OR FICTION? Get to the bottom of the myths about smokeless tobacco and learn about the real effects of chewing tobacco.
MYTH: Smokeless tobacco products are a safe alternative to tobacco smoking with none of the risk for serious illness.
FACT: Here is the bottom line. Smokeless does not equal harmless. The list of serious illnesses connected to any form of chewing tobacco is almost too long to print, but it does include mouth cancer, cancer of the pancreas, tooth loss, and bone loss around the roots of teeth.
MYTH: There is good news about snus. These popular, flavored, and funky smokeless tobacco imports are a cool way to use tobacco without any health effects.
FACT: Snus is a form of moist snuff commonly used in Sweden and Norway and it is being heavily marketed in the United States. People who use snus still had notably higher levels of cancer-causing agents in their bodies than people who use nicotine replacement patches.
Source: American Cancer Society
MYTH: When you chew tobacco you spit the nicotine, and all the other poisons, out with the chew.
FACT: When chewers place snuff or smokeless in their mouth, cheek, or lip, they give nicotine a free pass to do its nasty thing. A high dose of nicotine enters the bloodstream from the mouth and is then carried throughout the body. From there it takes its toll on many parts of the body, including the heart and blood vessels, hormones, metabolism, and brain. The amount of nicotine absorbed from a can of spit tobacco is equal to the amount delivered by three to four packs of cigarettes. Nicotine is absorbed more slowly from chewing tobacco than from cigarettes, but more nicotine per dose is absorbed from smokeless tobacco than from cigarettes. Also, the nicotine stays in the bloodstream for a longer time.
Source: FTC
MYTH: Smokeless tobacco use will improve your social and romantic life.
FACT: Just the opposite! Chewing tobacco and dipping carry a heavy social price, especially when it comes to dating. Bad breath, ugly gum disease, and stained teeth are quite unappealing effects of chewing tobacco. The spitting required by most smokeless tobacco is not pretty, either. Many ads suggest that smokeless tobacco is better for your social life because it won’t make your hair, clothes, and breath smell like an ashtray. But smokeless tobacco is hardly date-bait. What’s so attractive about bulging cheeks, gunk stuck in your teeth, permanently discolored teeth, and frequent spitting? Surgery for oral cancer, which may remove parts of your face, tongue, cheek, or lip, also may put a real crimp in your social and love life. Half of a face, a big chunk missing from your tongue…none of these scenarios makes for a great love connection.
MYTH: Spit tobacco is an important part of the game of baseball, improves performance, and is endorsed by Major League Baseball.
FACT: Major and Minor League Baseball, and even the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), are making efforts to distance themselves from this dangerous and habit of chewing tobacco. For example, the Arizona Diamondbacks have created the No Chew Crew, a club for young fans that will bring awareness to the dangers of spit tobacco and prevent children throughout the State of Arizona from using spit tobacco. USA Baseball, which represents the United States Olympic Baseball Team, has set forth very specific rules banning the use and endorsement of spit during televised events. A study of professional baseball players found no connection between smokeless tobacco use and player performance. Using spit tobacco increases your heart rate and blood pressure within a few minutes. This can cause a buzz or rush, but the rise in pulse and blood pressure places an extra stress on your heart.
MYTH: Americans are getting the message that smokeless does not equal harmless, and young men in particular are less likely to use smokeless tobacco products.
FACT: If grades were given for this sort of thing, the Nation’s spit tobacco grades would be a barely passing grade of “D.” Rates of spit tobacco use by high school males, according to Oral Health America's National Spit Tobacco Education Program (NSTEP), are high. Nationally, about one in seven high school males currently use spit (or smokeless) tobacco products, and in some States that number is one out of four.
MYTH: The tobacco industry communicates the facts about the dangers of smokeless tobacco in an honest manner.
FACT: The tobacco industry does not want you to associate smokeless tobacco with disease and death, but the facts don’t lie. And, because a picture is worth a thousand words, this poster should start you thinking twice about the true face of the typical smokeless tobacco user.
MYTH: If you chew tobacco for 5 years or less you won’t get cancer or heart disease.
FACT: Research reported at the Mayo Clinic and other well-respected organizations indicate that any amount of smokeless tobacco use is dangerous, regardless of whether you chew tobacco for a few years or if you survive a decade of chewing. http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2007-mchi/3885.html Smokeless tobacco users have a greater risk for oral cancer compared to non-users. Oral cancer can form in as little as 5 years of regular smokeless tobacco use.
Source: Hatsukami, D. & Severson, H., “Oral Spit Tobacco: Addiction, Prevention and Treatment.” Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 1:21–44, 1999.
MYTH: A little dip or chew won’t hurt you.
FACT: Even a little smokeless tobacco has enough nicotine in it to get you addicted if you keep using it. Don’t be fooled by thinking you can use just a little and not get addicted. Smokeless tobacco contains nicotine, the same drug that makes cigarettes addictive. If you hold an average size dip or chew in your mouth for 30 minutes, you get as much nicotine as you do from about three cigarettes. Nicotine addiction is so strong that some smokeless tobacco users sleep with it in their mouths so they keep getting nicotine through the night.
MYTH: Good gum care will offset the harmful effects of dip or chew.
FACT: There is simply no evidence that there is anything you can do with floss, toothbrushes, mouthwash, or toothpaste to undo the toll you take on your teeth and gums when you make the decision to dip or chew tobacco. Brush and floss as much as you want, but there’s no way it will undo the harmful effects of smokeless tobacco.
Source: NIDCR
MYTH: Smokeless tobacco is easy to give up, and you can quit any time you want to!
FACT: Since smokeless tobacco contains nicotine, it is as addictive as a cigarette, and you will experience the same nicotine withdrawal symptoms. These are usually strongest the first week after you quit. The worst is usually over after 2 weeks. As time passes, you’ll feel better than when you dipped or chewed. Don’t forget that live chat help from our cessation coaches is available to you 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. You don’t have to go it alone, so why would you want to? Quit Tobacco: Make Everyone Proud.