January 29th, 2009
Writes the Patriot-News today in an editorial:
While no one likes to talk about new taxes, here is one that we think everyone should chew on.
It is time for Pennsylvania to start taxing chewing tobacco — or as the industry has so successfully renamed its product, “smokeless tobacco.”
In 2009 there is only one state in the nation that does not tax this item. You might think it would be one of the Appalachian farming states where tobacco is still king. You would be wrong.
Read the Patriot’s entire case for a tax on smokeless tobacco at their website.
January 30th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Your editorial states that there is no downside to taxing smokeless tobacco. This is wrong.
Lower risk tobacco products need to be cheaper than cigarettes to encourage nicotine users to switch over. When smokers switch to using smokeless tobacco it is almost as good as quitting. Because there is no smoke, you remove almost all the cancer risk, and reduce every risk associated with smoking, not to mention remove any possibility of second hand smoke.
You will never be able to entirely stop young people from trying things you don’t want them to; better that they take up smokeless tobacco than cigarettes.
January 30th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Paul, and other HealthPoint readers:
The following is a link to a fact sheet from the National Cancer Institute, which explains that smokeless tobacco users do indeed have a very high risk of developing cancer, as well as other debilitating medical conditions. The fact sheet also explains that smokeless tobacco is not an effective way to quit smoking cigarettes:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/tobacco/smokeless
The following is a link that describes in more detail that studies that have been conducted on the harmful effects of smokeless tobacco: http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/tcrb/monographs/2/index.html
HealthPoint also encourages readers curious about smokeless tobacco to visit the Mouth Cancer Foundation: http://www.rdoc.org.uk/chewing_tobacco_risk.html
February 2nd, 2009 at 3:55 am
Despite the NCI having the reputation it does, it still prefers to mislead people about smokeless tobacco. The second link that was provided goes to badly outdated information from over 15 years ago.
And though I could provide a bibliography for anyone interested (or go to tobaccoharmreduction.org for a start), the one major fault of the fact sheet from NCI and the Mouth Cancer Foundation is that there is no comparison with the risks from smoking. Even researchers against the use of smokeless tobacco in general admit that it is much safer than smoking.
And that is the whole point. Using smokeless tobacco carries very little risk but even if it was ten times more dangerous than it is, it would still be only half as dangerous as smoking. You can quibble about how safe it is but if you are a smoker, its a very good option for you.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:47 am
While HealthPoint thanks Paul Bergen for his input on this issue, we continue to side with the medical research and case studies cited in our earlier reply.
We still encourage other readers to provide their own input on smokeless tobacco.
March 20th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Health Point – Don’t listen to Paul Bergen – he’s been brainwashed.
All tobacco products with no exceptions are highly addictive and dangerous to health; as the World Health Organization tells us “Tobacco is Deadly in Any Form or Disguise.”
One major heading in TobaccoHarmReduction.org web site (Bergen refers to) they write: Reduce the harm from Nicotine use: Go smokeless. – I noticed they have recently taken this phrase off – because it is not true.
As pointed out by Murry Kessler (now a vice-chair at Altria, Inc.) former CEO of UST, Inc. (maker of Skoal and Copenhagen) nine out of ten smokers who try smokeless still reject the product. Those that will try smokeless are young adults and kids that want to be young adults. With kids using snus and dissolvable smokeless products (candies like TicTacs, flavored toothpics and probably the worst edible strips you place on your tongue like Listerine breath strips) we’ll end up with our children being nicotine addicts never able to reach their full potential. Contrary to what Mr. Bergen will tell you nicotine is a very dangerous compound (analogs still used as insecticides), e.g. Nicotine has numerous adverse effects but the one most important in an adolescent is the effect on brain development. The presence of nicotine leads to decline in attention, in particular auditory attention, and at the same time had abnormalities in the structure of their brain that looked like premature developmental changes. Nicotine binds to a receptor called the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor that’s very important in modulating development in both prenatal and adolescent life. (Professor Leslie Jacobsen M.D., Dept. of Psychiatry, Yale University)
Pennsylvania (PA) has one of the weakest smoking bans in the country. We could never understand why PA was the only state in the nation not to tax tobacco products other than cigarettes. – where’s Mr. Godshall??
Keep up your good work. – Sam Garten, tobaccowatch.org
February 13th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Samuel Garten is just some anti-tobacco nazi who twists information in order to have a soapbox to yell from. More than half his articles contain incorrect information. We all know that tobacco is not good for you. Neither is more than half the food or drinks we consume.
In an article from 2009 this “doctor” claimed that a company online was exploiting children in Canada with their flavored cigars. When in fact, this “doctor” didn’t even look at the facts. He linked a cigar retailer (not the manufacturer) along with pictures stolen from a business website for his anti-tobacco agenda. That company does not make cigars and does not even ship to Canada! Its like blaming the gas station down the road for the pollution from car exhausts.
http://snus-news.blogspot.com/2009/05/canada-federal-governement-introduces.html
This is a perfect example of how these so called *professionals* work. A doctor who uses false information for a public diagnoses is a sure quack.
Keep up the good work Sam? Stay tuned for his study on Global warming…