- I'm not on fire
Where there's smokeless, there's fire
Snuff tobacco not a safe substitute for smoking says American Heart Association
By Joe Strizzi
If you’re thinking that smokeless tobacco may be a good alternative to lighting up, you may need to think again.
“No tobacco product is safe to consume,” said Mariann Piano, R.N., PhD, and professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Health Science, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Nursing. “Smokeless tobacco products are harmful and addictive, that does not translate to a better alternative.”
Piano, lead author of a study published in the American Heart Association’s (AHA) journal Circulation, examined several international studies to compare smokeless tobacco use and its health risks.
“Scientists and policy makers need to assess the effect of ‘reduced risk’ messages related to smokeless tobacco use on public perception, especially among smokers who might be trying to quit,” Piano and her colleagues wrote in their study entitled Impact of Smokeless Tobacco Products on Cardiovascular Disease: Implications for Policy, Prevention, and Treatment. Citing an “inadequate evidence of smoking cessation efficacy and safety,” they concluded that the promotion of smokeless tobacco as a way to reduce smoking-related diseases was inappropriate.
Ultimately, Piano and her colleagues concluded that the safest aids for lasting smoking cessation are nicotine replacement and pharmaceutical therapies, in conjunction with counselling and support.
Manuel Arango, Assistant Director of Health Policy for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada stated that there has been a lot of debate over the potential for smokeless tobacco products as a viable replacement to cigarettes or as smoking-cessation aids.
“This is a landmark document and a good summary of the evidence that we’ve been waiting for,” Arango said. “I think it settles a lot of questions we’ve had in the past.”
A December 2010 Health Canada study entitled Smokeless Tobacco Products: A Chemical and Toxicity Analysis reported that there are over 3,000 chemicals in smokeless tobacco products, 28 of which are known to cause cancer. The study also stated that use of smokeless tobacco is associated with many harmful health effects, including cardiovascular disease, oral disease and certain forms of cancer, such as of the pancreas and mouth.
The federal health department analyzed the physical and chemical properties of smokeless tobacco products and assessed their toxicity. The analysis demonstrated that all the products contain nicotine, the drug found in tobacco, which has been identified as playing a key role in addiction to these products. Some of the toxic chemicals found in the analyzed products include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, tobacco-specific nitrosamines, and the metals arsenic (used in poison to kill rats), chromium, nickel and lead.