Snus News & Other Tobacco Products

Philippines - former health ministers petition Supreme Court - cigarette packs graphic warnings..

Marlboro snus now comes in a round tin, 2 flavors, 15 pouches..

January 18, 2011 - Now Marlboro snus comes in a round tin like American chewing tobacco is package. The Flavors are mint and original with 15 pouches per tin . Chad Jones who tried the new Marlboro snus states “The new Marlboro “snus” is simply unimpressive. Altria failed to do anything to improved their previous product other than making the “snus” itself a little more moist.”

From Chad Jones another interesting note: cans say "30% Domestic Tobacco, 70% Import Tobacco".

Reference: New Marlboro Snus 2011 (Round Can) Review. 14 January 2011, Chad Jones, Snus News, Reviews and Information, 1/14/2011..

Some Marlboro snus news briefs:
Philip Morris USA - Marlboro SNUS being made at York County, VA plant..;
Marlboro SNUS going national today, March 11, 2010..;
C-store Update - Marlboro SNUS, Grizzly, Copenhagen, Skoal..;
Altria - new marketing strategy with emphasis on Marlboro SNUS..;
Marlboro SNUS market test being expanded..;
More on Marlboro MST & Marlboro Snus..;
PM USA - discontinues Marlboro Moist Snuff & revamps Marlboro Snus..;
Altria will continue to test Marlboro Smokeless Tobacco Products..;
Altria's growth depends on the Marlboro name..;
The Word From Dallas - Test Market for Marlboro SNUS..;
Marlboro MST / Marlboro SNUS - Philip Morris USA (PM) Trying to Paint a Rosie Picture..;
Altria - NOT in Any Hurry to Expand Marlboro SNUS Distribution..;
Price of Marlboro SNUS in the test market area of Dallas/Fort Worth. .;
Philip Morris USA might roll out Marlboro SNUS nationally three to six months after the start of the test market in Dallas, TX starting in August...;
Philip Morris USA is introducing a smokeless product under its Marlboro brand name called Marlboro SNUS pouches (12-pouches per slidepak container).;
Read more...

Japan - study shows the promotion of menthol cigarettes to women had increased the rate of female smoking even as men smoked less..

January 18, 2011 - There is a strong preference for menthol products in a number of Asian markets such as Japan and it is also growing in some Central European and Latin American markets. (Marlboro menthol cigarettes: strong preference in Asia by O'Connor Sarah, cheapweb.info, 6/24/2009)

PAPER: The Impact of Menthol Cigarettes on Smoking Initiation among Non-Smoking Young Females in Japan, Gregory N. Connolly, Ilan Behm, Yoneatsu Osaki and Geoffrey F. Wayne, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2011, 8, 1-14; FULL TEXT..

STUDY ABSTRACT: Japan presents an excellent case-study of a nation with low female smoking rates and a negligible menthol market which changed after the cigarette market was opened to foreign competition. Internal tobacco industry documents demonstrate the intent of tobacco manufacturers to increase initiation among young females through development and marketing of menthol brands. Japanese menthol market share rose rapidly from less than 1% in 1980 to 20% in 2008. Menthol brand use was dominated by younger and female smokers, in contrast with non-menthol brands which were used primarily by male smokers. Nationally representative surveys confirm industry surveys of brand use and provide further evidence of the end results of the tobacco industry‘s actions—increased female smoking in Japan. These findings suggest that female populations may be encouraged to initiate into smoking, particularly in developing nations or where female smoking rates remain low, if the tobacco industry can successfully tailor brands to them. The Japanese experience provides a warning to public health officials who wish to prevent smoking initiation among young females.

From paper: Surveys identified menthol as a major reason for female experimentation and use. Menthol cigarettes tended to be viewed as "a special type" of "light" cigarette and were widely considered to be an exclusively female domain.

Each day in the United States, approximately 3,900 persons aged 12--17 years smoke their first cigarette, and an estimated 1,000 adolescents become daily cigarette smokers. The vast majority of persons who begin smoking during adolescence are addicted to nicotine by age 20. (MMWR - Cigarette Smoking --- United States, 1965--2008..) A national study finds that smokers who started recently are more likely than longer-term smokers to use menthol cigarettes. Menthol is an additive used in cigarettes that masks the harshness of cigarette smoke by giving the smoker the sensation of coolness in the mouth, pharynx, and lungs. By masking the harshness, menthol can make it easier for young people to start smoking. (Menthol Cigarettes - smokers who started recently more likely to smoke menthols..)
Read more...

PAPER: cigarette smoke causes genetic damage within minutes of inhalation..

January 18, 2011 - In research described as "a stark warning" to those tempted to start smoking, scientists are reporting that cigarette smoke begins to cause genetic damage within minutes after being inhaled.

In the study, Stephen Hecht, a professor at the University of Minnesota, and a team of scientists studied the harmful substances in tobacco smoke called "polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons" or PAHs -- one of the culprits that causes lung cancer. Until now, scientists had not detailed the specific way in which the PAHs in cigarette smoke cause DNA damage in humans.

PAPER: Immediate Consequences of Cigarette Smoking: Rapid Formation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Diol Epoxides, Yan Zhong, Steven G. Carmella, Pramod Upadhyaya, J. Bradley Hochalter, Diane Rauch, Andrew Oliver, Joni Jensen, Dorothy Hatsukami, Jing Wang, Cheryl Zimmerman, and Stephen S. Hecht (hecht002@umn.edu), Chem. Res. Toxicol., Article ASAP Publication Date (Web): December 27, 2010, ABSTRACT..

To study the damage that smoke creates, Hecht's team added a labeled PAH -- phenanthrene -- to cigarettes and tracked it in 12 volunteers who smoked them. They found that phenanthrene quickly forms a toxic substance in the blood known to trash DNA, causing mutations that can cause cancer.

Within 30 minutes after they smoked the cigarettes, the smokers developed maximum levels of the toxic substance. Researchers said the effect is so fast that it's equivalent to injecting the substance directly into the bloodstream.

"This study is unique," wrote Hecht, an internationally recognized expert on cancer-causing substances found in cigarette smoke and smokeless tobacco. "It is the first to investigate human metabolism of a PAH specifically delivered by inhalation in cigarette smoke, without interference by other sources of exposure such as air pollution or the diet. The results reported here should serve as a stark warning to those who are considering starting to smoke cigarettes."

Hecht and his colleagues point out in the report that lung cancer claims a global toll of 3,000 lives each day, largely as a result of cigarette smoking. Smoking also is linked to at least 18 other types of cancer.

The study appeared in Chemical Research in Toxicology, one of 38 peer-reviewed scientific journals published by the American Chemical Society.

This study also comes shortly after the Surgeon General's latest report on smoking, which also noted the damage that cigarette smoke does to the body's DNA. December 9, 2010 - U.S. Surgeon General's Report: How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease..)

The scientists said the study's primary drawback was that they used phenanthrene in the study's cigarettes as a substitute for a carcinogenic PAH. "You couldn't give known carcinogens to smokers" because it's unethical, Hecht said. But he added, "Phe (phenanthrene) is about as close as we could get to a carcinogenic PAH."

Directly related news brief:
Fifteen cigarettes: all it takes to harm genes...

Reference: Study finds cigarette smoking causes genetic damage within minutes, Linda Shrieves, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla., 1/17/2011.
Read more...

PAPER: tobacco advertisements prompt teenageers to smoke..

January 18, 2011 - Tobacco advertisements really do prompt teenagers to smoke, say the authors of a new study that calls for a ban on cigarette ads.

PAPER: Cigarette Advertising and Teen Smoking Initiation, Reiner Hanewinkel, PhD, Barbara Isensee, PhD, James D. Sargent, MD, Matthis Morgenstern, PhD, Pediatrics, Published online January 17, 2011, ABSTRACT..

In research involving more than 2,100 public school students in Germany, 277 young people who had never smoked before took up the habit after viewing tobacco advertising. Those who saw the most ads were 46 percent more likely to try cigarettes than those who saw no tobacco ads, the study found.
Students involved in the study ranged from 10 to 17 years old, with an average age of 12.5 years, when the study began. They were shown 12 ads with branding removed -- six for cigarettes and six for other products, including candy, cars and cell phones. They were asked to identify the product advertised and recall the brand if they could.

After nine months, 13 percent of the students who had seen tobacco ads began smoking, showing a strong connection between the behavior and tobacco advertising, said Sargent. And the more ads they saw, the more likely they were to start smoking, the study found.

Cheryl Healton, president and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation, an anti-smoking organization: this [study] is very important because there are few, if any, longitudinal studies," demonstrating a link between tobacco advertising and teen smoking. Previous research has mostly relied on cross-sectional studies, she said. That type of study documents incidence of a behavior at a certain point in time and may suggest a link between, say, smoking and advertising, but it doesn't show cause-and-effect. A longitudinal study, on the other hand, follows participants for a period of time in an effort to demonstrate that one causes the other.

Advertising exploits themes that are meaningful to teens including sex appeal, masculinity for boys, thinness for girls, and social acceptance, according to research cited in the study. Most smoking starts during adolescence, and because tobacco is a powerful psychoactive drug, the path to addiction readily follows, the authors added.

Healton said tobacco companies spend about $30 million a day on advertising in the United States alone. They "have to get young people to smoke or else they will go out of business," she said. Although tobacco advertising is banned on American television, Healton said some TV programs promote smoking by showing characters lighting up.

References: Cigarette Ads Do Spur Teens to Light Up, Study Finds The more advertisements they saw, the more likely they were to smoke, researchers say by Ellin Holohan - HealthDay Reporter, Bloomberg Business Week, 1/17/2010.

A few related news briefs:
PAPER: Pro-tobacco videos have a significant presence on YouTube..;
Young adolescents exposure to tobacco ads and cigarette smoking..;
Study finds teens twice as likely to try smoking if they frequent stores plastered with cigarette ads..;
Youth exposed to smokeless tobacco ads despite settlement…;
Tobacco industry has long targeted young people as "replacement smokers";
New Zealand - study revives interest in keeping tobacco hidden...
(kids, children) Read more...