December 25, 2007 - Snuff Is NOT 'Safer' Substitute For Cigarettes.. Dr. Stephen S. Hecht, an internationally recognized expert on cancer-causing agents in tobacco and the pathways by which they cause cancer, has completed a 20-year review (in the January 1, 2008 issue of American Chemical Society's Section on Chemical Research in Toxicology) off scientific research on tobacco and cancer challenges the idea that moist snuff — increasingly popular in the United States — can be a safer substitute for cigarette smoking. The paper, which covers the broad range of research on cancer induced by tobacco, points out that smokeless tobacco, a known cause of oral cancer, is contaminated with levels of cancer-causing nitrosamines that are generally 1,000 times greater than those found in any other consumer product. Despite health warning labels on packages of smokeless tobacco and a ban on electronic advertising, sales of snuff have continued to increase, the paper states. “In the past several years, a new concept has emerged,” the paper notes. “Responsible members of the tobacco control community support the idea of using ‘low nitrosamine’ moist snuff as a substitute for cigarette smoking. The rationale for this is that moist snuff is demonstrably less carcinogenic in humans, and less toxic in other ways, because it lacks the combustion products.” However, moist snuff products still contain significant levels of carcinogens, and users should stop, rather than switch from one risky product to another, the paper advises. ( "New Report Challenges Idea That Snuff Is A 'Safer' Substitute For Cigarettes," Science Daily, 12/24/2007) Dr Hecht - related news briefs: October 30, 2007, October 6, 2007 and August 10, 2007. Let's not forget the American Cancer Society study of more than 116,000 men finds that cigarette smokers who switched to spit tobacco products had a higher risk of dying prematurely from tobacco-related diseases than former smokers who stopped using all forms of tobacco.
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