Eschew the Chew, Snuff the Snuff

On the same day on which the World Health Organization in Geneva was issuing its strongest statement to date linking tobacco use with illness and premature mortality, a U.S. government panel was calling attention to the rising use of smokeless tobacco and its attendant health risks in this country. Worldwide, the Geneva report says, nearly 1 million deaths a year can be attributed to tobacco consumption, with one-third of all cancers being related to tobacco used for smoking or chewing. The U.S. government panel, convened by the National Institutes of Health, noted the relationship of smokeless tobacco to cancers of the mouth and throat. Oral cancer was responsible for 9,500 American deaths in 1985.

An estimated 10 million Americans, about 3 million of them under the age of 21, use smokeless tobacco--either the chewing variety or snuff. The clear message from the group of health experts is that smokeless tobacco is not a safe alternative to smoking. Nicotine absorption from smokeless tobacco can cause the same kinds of increases in blood pressure, heart rates and blood fats that smoking tobacco produces. Nicotine yields a mild and transient “high”; that’s why it’s addictive. Smokeless tobacco can be as addictive as cigarettes.

Are the health dangers of smokeless tobacco something that non-users should be concerned about? Yes, because--like any form of health-threatening addiction, whether involving cigarettes, alcohol or hard drugs--a seemingly individual problem can in time become part of a much larger social one. These addictions are expensive. They contribute significantly to health-care costs even as they diminish economic activity through lost productivity and shortened work lives.

Efforts to publicize the health hazards of smoking have led to a modest reduction in the consumption of cigarettes in the United States. Those efforts ought to be expanded to discourage the use of smokeless tobacco as well.