Teen cigarette smoking is down (yay!), but teen smokeless tobacco is up (WHAT?)!
Between 2001 and 2013, current smokeless tobacco use increased significantly from 10 percent in 2001 to 11 percent in 2013 among athletes. Here's what your teen needs to know about why they shouldn't use it.
Surprised? Me too!
Baseball and smokeless tobacco (ST) have gone together like hand and glove since the 1800s. Players and coaches liked it because it kept their mouths moist. Tobacco-stained spit became the "active ingredient" in the spitball.
ST is different from the tobacco used in cigarettes or cigars. ST products are sucked (dipped) or chewed and absorbed through the mouth. ST includes snuff, chewing tobacco and dissolvable tobacco.
Snuff is finely-ground or shredded tobacco, also known as dipping tobacco. It can be dry or moist. A person will place a lump, pinch or "dip" of moist snuff between the cheek and gums and spit as tobacco juices and saliva build up. Snus is moist snuff designed so that there is no need to spit. Dry snuff is a powder and can be inhaled nasally, taken orally, or placed between the gums and cheek like moist snuff.
Chewing tobacco comes as long strands of loose leaves, twists of tobacco or plugs. A chaw is chewing tobacco of the leaf variety. Plugs are small, semi-soft blocks. Users put a "chew" or "wad" of tobacco in between their cheek and gums and spit as the tobacco juices and saliva build up.
Dissolvable tobacco products are made of ground tobacco. They are available as sweet, candy-like tobacco lozenges, orbs, pellets, strips and sticks that melt in 3-30 minutes. They are designed to be held in the mouth, chewed or sucked until they dissolve and do not require spitting.
Is ST safe? Many people think that ST is a safer alternative to cigarettes, but in 2010 ST was responsible for more than 62,000 cancer deaths and more than 200,000 heart disease deaths! ST contains at least 28 known cancer-causing chemicals.
Cancer of the mouth — including the lip, tongue and cheek — occurs most often at the spot in the mouth where the ST was held. The risk of oral cancer is four times greater in ST users than in nonusers. ST also causes cancer in the throat, esophagus, stomach and pancreas. Babe Ruth, Bill Tuttle and Tony Gwynn are among the many baseball players who lost the game to ST http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/people/sports-figures.php. ST is not just used by baseball players. In 1984, Sean Marsee, a track star, died of oral cancer at the age of 19 after dipping snuff since age 12.
Other mouth problems — including gum inflammation (gingivitis) and gum recession (gums shrinking from around the teeth) — result from ST's direct and repeated contact with the gums. Many forms of ST contain sugar, contributing to cavities and tooth loss.
Addiction occurs from the stimulant nicotine. Holding an average-size dip in the mouth for just 30 minutes can deliver as much nicotine as smoking three to five cigarettes. A 2-can-a-week snuff dipper gets as much nicotine as a 1-1/2 pack-a-day smoker does.
ST use among athletic youth is on the upswing. Current (past month) combustible tobacco use (cigarettes and cigars) among American high school students declined significantly from 32 percent in 2001 to 20 percent in 2013, according to recent data from the CDC. The trend was not the same for ST. Between 2001 and 2013, current ST use increased significantly from 10 percent in 2001 to 11 percent in 2013 among athletes, and did not change during this time among non-athletes (6 percent).
When it comes to ST, here's the score:
Strike 1: It causes cancer and other medical problems.
Strike 2: It's highly addictive.
Strike 3: Research shows that youth who use smokeless tobacco are also more likely to smoke cigarettes.
'Snuff said. Parents, please talk to your kids about the dangers of ST so they don't even try it!
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