One can Camel SNUS addicted to nicotine for life..


November 22, 2008 - R.J. Reynolds Tobacco lowered the number of pouches per container from 20 to 15 pouches back in April 2008 (Marlboro SNUS - 12 pouches, Lorillard's Triumph SNUS - 24 pouches, Skoal Dry - 20 pouches - now called Skoal SNUS).

Comparison of the two Camel SNUS containers: FRONT BACK - note the simplified directions on how to suck on the tobacco pouch without producing too much saliva with the new container and the removal of the tag "Pleasure For Wherever."

On November 20, 2008 we reported on a West Virginia University (WVA) study that found that Camel SNUS has twice the nicotine content of an earlier version of the same product. When compared with another snus product - Tourney SNUS (similar to Liggett's Grand Prix SNUS) had a much lower levels of nicotine than Camel SNUS. (RJR's Camel SNUS twice nicotine content..

Andrew Seidenberg, a member of Harvard's Tobacco Control Research Program pointed out that the Camel Snus website (snuscamel.com) acknowledged they were increasing the size of each pouch, the amount of tobacco (0.6 grams instead of the 0.4 grams per pouch - R.J. Reynolds spokesman David Howard), and consequently the amount of nicotine with the new pouches. Now according to a
R.J. Reynolds each pouch of Snus contains 8 milligrams of nicotine (about 8 times what a smoker gets from smoking a cigarette), the earlier version contained only 2 milligrams of nicotine per pouch.

But the WVU study found that there was twice as much nicotine and RJR only increased the size of the pouch by 50% - if that. The size of the two Camel SNUS pouches.

Reynolds is now flooding the market with free cans of Camel SNUS. As part of their public awareness and education program they have tried just about everything: from providing coupons, to stationing people at bars and c-stores, to running ads in various publications. Where has this got them - surely they've given away more cans of Camel SNUS than have been paid for. Now based on information from a c-store owner the RJR salesperson for the last 3-weeks has given him at no charge 25-cans of Camel Snus Frost and asked for him to pass them out to those people that may be interested in giving it a try.

We know higher tobacco prices significantly reduce teens’ probability of becoming daily, addicted users. (Dr. Judith Monroe, Indiana Health Commissioner, "As the price goes up, youth use of tobacco products goes down." But here we have Reynolds giving the stuff away and doing everything in its power to get people to try snus.

Just One Cigarette can Cause Nicotine Addiction. (DiFranza JR, Savageau JA, Fletcher K, O'Loughlin J, et al. Symptoms of Tobacco Dependence After Brief Intermittent Use: The Development and Assessment of Nicotine Dependence in Youth-2 Study Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 07;161:704-710. Abstract. Smokeless Tobacco is NOT less addictive than tobacco smoking in fact nicotine blood levels last longer and may even be higher.

2 comments:

  Unknown

September 26, 2009 at 8:52 AM

I am sure you are aware that only about 20% of the nicotine in snus is available for absorbtion ?

As far as the RJR brands , there must be a reason they will not publish what their product contains . Where as the closely regulated Swedish brands do .

Any company targeting kids should be shut down !!! But , if we enforced the laws already on the books , underage sale wouldn't be a problem .

  Unknown

February 2, 2010 at 6:54 AM

Please check your facts. First, the systemic absorption of nicotine from a pouch of snus is similar to what one gets from a cigarette--about 1-2 mgs.--not "8 times." (An average cigarette contains 10 mg. of nicotine, but, like snus, only a fraction is absorbed systemically.) Second, the move towards snus is s positive one, if public health and harm reduction are the real concerns. Assuming that the nitrosamine profile of U.S. snus products is similar to that of Swedish products, there is no evidence of carcinogenicity. Third, I agree that targeting kids is immoral, illegal and just plain wrong. The publications you mention are not targeted at kids. Plus, I don't see spitless snus as much of a draw for the younger set--where's the rebellion and "cool" factor in quietly popping a snus pouch in your mouth? Peers wouldn't even know you were doing it. I don't see much risk here.