Snus Rhymes with Noose…and That’s Not a Coincidence

If you are reading this you probably already know that snus is a type of Swedish smokeless tobacco, and it’s not anything like your grandfather's snuff, dip, or chew. Snus comes in pouches that resemble teabags. Users place the pouches between their upper lip and gum, leaving it there for about a half an hour. The entire pouch can then be discarded without the user having to spit it out like the traditional (also known as revolting) smokeless tobacco products.

It’s no surprise that the tobacco industry is trying to stay ahead of no-smoking laws that are being enacted throughout the nation. Cigarette sales continue to fall, so Big Tobacco is concocting schemes to make tobacco tempting and attractive. Snus is sold in different flavors and eye-catching packages, all part of a plan for the tobacco executives to increase sales.

If you snus, you lose!

We’ve said it before—smokeless is NOT harmless. No matter the form, it’s still tobacco, and you’d have to live in a cave to be unaware of the many reasons to avoid smoking, dipping, or chewing. Snus, like all tobacco products, is addictive. And, like all tobacco products, it can lead to oral and other cancers. A February 2008 American Cancer Society study found that male smokers who quit cigarettes and switched to smokeless tobacco still had higher death rates from heart and lung diseases as well as strokes compared with men who quit tobacco entirely, or men who never smoked.

Other research links the use of snus with pancreatic cancer.

The bottom line is familiar but true—there is just no such thing as a safe tobacco product. Like cigarettes, these alternate forms of tobacco are risky business, and you’ve worked too hard to get where you are today to throw away your health and future for a little nicotine. You’ve seen the photos of people who have lost lips, gums, and parts of their facial bone structure as a result of smokeless tobacco products. The tobacco suits may tell you that snus and other smokeless products are a safer alternative to cigarettes or cigars, but you try telling that to Rick Bender, Gruen Von Behrens, the 22,900 people who will develop oral cancer this year, or the estimated 5,390 people who will die from it.