A Rose by Any Other Name
Posted on: November 23, 2009 | admin | Comments Off | Print Article | Rate Post:
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)No matter what you call it – chew, snuff, spit, snus, dip or iqmik – smokeless tobacco poses health risks from tooth loss to cancer. And although it’s less lethal than cigarettes, it’s not a safe alternative to smoking. All tobacco products pose health risks and all can be deadly.
In Alaska, smokeless tobacco use remains above the national average, and is of special concern among Alaska Native populations. For example, while only 4% of adults nationwide use smokeless tobacco, 12% of Alaska Native adults
do. Among Alaska youth, although smokeless use dropped from 16% to 10% (between 1995 and 2007, rates of use are still higher than the 8% (2007) national average. Of special concern are female high school youth – rates for Alaska Native girls rose 6% between 1995 and 2007.
What is smokeless tobacco?
Snuff is finely ground tobacco packaged in cans or pouches, and is sold either moist or dry. Placed between the lower lip or cheek and gum, moist snuff delivers nicotine by absorption through mouth tissue. Moist snuff is also available in small, teabag-like pouches. Placed between the cheek and gum, this is designed to be both “smoke-free” and “spit-free” and is marketed as a discreet way to use tobacco. Dry snuff is sold in a powdered form and is used by sniffing or inhaling the powder up the nose.
Chewing tobacco is sold in long strands of loose leaves, plugs, or twists of tobacco. Pieces are chewed or placed between the cheek and gum or teeth. Nicotine is absorbed through mouth tissues and users spit out brown juice – tobacco soaked saliva.
Smokeless tobacco use is especially high in Western Alaska, with rates of 52% for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Locals make iqmik – a mixture of tobacco and “punk ash” (the ash of a fungus that grows on birch trees). Iqmik is unusually potent – researchers believe the ash raises pH levels in the mouth, which increases the dose and delivery of nicotine to the brain. Using iqmik is like freebasing nicotine.
Use of iqmik outnumbers commercial products 2 to 1, and because many believe it tastes better and is healthier than commercial chewing tobacco, iqmik is often shared among friends and family, including pregnant women, children and sometimes, teething babies.
Marketing of smokeless tobacco products
Unwilling to lose profits, tobacco companies now market smokeless tobacco for use in places where smoking is no longer allowed, with ads like Anytime. Anywhere and No Smoking, No Problem. Free samples and coupons lure young people and other first-timers while keeping other users hooked.
Big tobacco also promotes the switch to chew as a good way to quit smoking. And while there is no proof it helps smokers quit, countless data links smokeless tobacco to negative health effects. These include oral, throat and esophageal cancers; cancer of the stomach and pancreas; receding gums, bone loss around teeth and tooth loss; and increased risk of heart disease, heart attack and stroke.
If you use smokeless tobacco in any form, check your mouth regularly for leukoplakia – white sores or patches that can become cancer. Studies show high rates of leukoplakia where smokeless tobacco is placed in the mouth. The longer you chew, the more likely you are to have leukoplakia.
New laws will affect tobacco marketing.
President Barack Obama signed The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act into law on 22 June 2009. In effect since October, this law gives the Food and Drug Administration power to regulate tobacco products in the U.S., with special emphasis on how tobacco products are marketed and advertised. The colorful ads and store displays designed to attract children are no longer allowed, and beginning next year, all outdoor tobacco ads within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds will be illegal.
Under the law, new smokeless tobacco and other products claiming to have lower health risks will have to be approved by the FDA, and will be allowed only if producers show the product would not encourage non-smokers or would-be quitters to try it, instead of not using tobacco at all.
Remember, if you don’t smoke, don’t start. If you do, quit. But in the meantime, thank you for smoking OUTSIDE! For more information, contact SeaView’s Tobacco Prevention Coordinator at SeaView Community Services, (907) 224-5257 or at prevention@seaviewseward.org
Contact the Alaska Tobacco Quit Line at 1-800-Quit-Now or TTY 1-877-777-6534.
Information for this article taken from the following sources: Iqmik Immersion, http://www.tobacco.org/news/79236.html, Tobacco Prevention and Control in Alaska FY 2008, and The American Cancer Society’s Smokeless Tobacco and How to Quit, http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_13X_Quitting_Smokeless_Tobacco.asp?sitearea=PED
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