General can mouth cancer???

[Brutecraft]

Hey all this is my first post.. I just started snusing about 3 weeks ago in an attempt to quit smoking (am still having trouble in the morning but getting there).

Just wondering why my general can I ordered from northerner states "this product can cause mouth cancer."

Why? I've read countless times online that they had removed any cancer warnings since the risk is so low and studies only show a risk of pancreatic cancer which is still lower risk than smoking.

Is this just some stupid regulation put in by the U.S government or is general brand different for some reason?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Crow]

US government mandate. It has to be applied to all smokeless tobacco products... Sometimes it says that it can cause mouth cancer, sometimes it says that it's addictive (which is true), and sometimes it says that it's not a safe alternative to cigarettes... I'd prefer that they just stick to the "addictive" label for snus products. That's the only advisory that's indisputable. One can say that snus is not a (completely) safe alternative to cigarettes, but it's a hell of a lot safer than smoking (or dipping).

[precious007]

Hey all this is my first post.. I just started snusing about 3 weeks ago in an attempt to quit smoking (am still having trouble in the morning but getting there).

Just wondering why my general can I ordered from northerner states "this product can cause mouth cancer."

Why? I've read countless times online that they had removed any cancer warnings since the risk is so low and studies only show a risk of pancreatic cancer which is still lower risk than smoking.

Is this just some stupid regulation put in by the U.S government or is general brand different for some reason?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Welcome to Snuson!

Yes and Yes. Snus has a very low risk of developing mouth cancer (but still does, even if it's 1 in a million snusers there are probably a few cases, I suppose it happens in chain snusing for over 4 decades or something)

Pacreatic cancer risk triples when snusing and no it's not lower than in smoking. (it's actually higher, but still studies show a very small number of people getting pancreatic cancer from smoking) Sweden has the most snus users AND the lowest cancer rates.

When we come down to getting cancer, snus can contribute to it, but in my opinion there's always a set of other factors that trigger the pancreatic cancer. Probably a sedentary life, alcohol, a bad diet, stress, drugs and so on. (Sweds most like have a low rate of cancer because Scandinavians in general (norwegian,finish and swedish) are quite serious about their lifestyle, diet and everything in between. Been living in Norway and have seen it all. In norway people aged 70 still go skiing, biking, rollerblanding, whereas for example people in Romania aged 70 in Romania are rarely even walking properly.

There are certain factors that contribute to cancers. Stress is one of the biggest enemies, it depletes the immune system and is likely to induce many types of cancers.

[Crow]

Yes, it's possible that you can get mouth cancer. I suppose it's "fair" to make the claim that it can cause mouth cancer, but the overall risk is minute.

As precious mentioned, risk of pancreatic cancer is higher with snus. Again, the risk is small (but it's still present):

From a Norwegian study :

The relative risk of pancreatic cancer for snus use was 1.67 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.12, 2.50); that of oral and pharyngeal cancer was 1.10 (95% CI = 0.50, 2.41), that of esophageal cancer was 1.40 (95% CI = 0.61, 3.24), and that of stomach cancer was 1.11 (95% CI = 0.83, 1.48).

To read those numbers, for example, for the pancreatic cancer means they're 95% sure that your chances of getting pancreatic cancer are between 1.12 times and 2.5 times as likely as someone who doesn't snus with the mean prediction being around 1.65 times as likely, etc.

If the mean is 1 then there's no change - if it's less than one then snusers are less likely than non snusers to come down with the disease and if it's greater than one then you are more likely.

[Brutecraft]

Hey and thanks for the welcome.. Do you have any links to your info about snus being even HIGHER than smoking in P. cancer risk?

i've read everywhere its double the risk with no tobacco but half the risk of smoking

[Crow]

Hey and thanks for the welcome.. Do you have any links to your info about snus being even HIGHER than smoking in P. cancer risk?

i've read everywhere its double the risk with no tobacco but half the risk of smoking

Cigarette smoking has a risk ratio of 1.74 with regard to pancreatic cancer; a decade of nonsmoking after heavy smoking is associated with a risk ratio of 1.2.

-- Iodice S, Gandini S, Maisonneuve P, Lowenfels AB (July 2008). "Tobacco and the risk of pancreatic cancer: a review and meta-analysis". Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery

If I understand correctly, snus would have a slightly lower risk of pancreatic cancer compared to cigarettes (when you compare the mean risk ratio from the previous study, at 1.65 [snus] to the risk ratio in this study, at 1.74 [cigarettes])

[lxskllr]

Snus has a LOWER risk of pancreatic cancer than smoking, and that's assuming the study that found it is accurate. I have issues with the methodology of the study, and AFAIK it hasn't been replicated. A rough way of thinking about it is to break it in thirds. No tobacco use is 33%, snus use is 66%, and smoking is 99% as far as relative risk goes.

For mouth cancer, I know of one case, but it's not really relevant to current snus products. It was a 90 year old man who had been snusing for 70 years. At 90 years old the world's out to get you, and you'll get /something/ that kills you. Also, he started snusing long before manufacturers started refining the process, so most of his life was spent using snus that had relatively higher levels of TSNAs, and likely more bacterial contamination. Btw, I think that old guy just had the spot removed, and he lived happily ever after. I'd have to dig up the article though.

[chainsnuser]

First, the study reeks of bribery:
http://velvetgloveironfist.blogspot....x-experts.html

Second, it's flawed. From what I know, they compared construction workers (for the snusers-group) with a general cross section of the population (for the non snusers-group). They also had former smokers in the snusers-group. The raw data of the study has never been published despite other tobacco-researchers asking for it.

Third, this totally amateurish study-design aside, they found nothing but a doubling of a very rare type of cancer that reasonable scientists mostly connect with a high consumption of alcohol. Guess why these anti-tobacco "professionals" used construction workers for their study!

All studies that I have read usually show a cancer-risk for snusers that lies between -10% (!) and +30% of the risk for a non-tobacco-user. Such a risk ratio is called "statistically insignificant", because nobody can tell if the lowered or elevated risk for single types of cancer comes from snusing or from other lifestyle choices.
The lower risk for mouth cancer for a snuser compared to a non-tobacco-user (this is no joke, the well known propaganda really consists of barefaced lies) must not have to do with some cancer-preventing ingredient in snus. It could also come from the fact that snusers usually spend less time eating unhealthy food (not to disrupt the nicotine-delivery).
The elevated risk for some other types of cancer as well must not have to do with certain dangerous ingredients of snus, but with the general lifestyle of the typical snuser (in regards to the well-known long-time studies), who mostly is a former smoker, belongs to the working class, often has a dangerous job, eats fast food, has other vices to make it through to the day and simply cannot be compared with the usual non tobacco - user, who mostly leads a very health conscious life and on average has a less "harmful" job.

Everyone, who wants to know more, should have a look at page 147 of this study for some real risk ratios of smokeless tobacco, or better should read the whole study:
4fc74817-64c5-4105-951e-38239b09c5db.pdf (application/pdf-Objekt)

It's from the Royal College of Physicians in London - one of the world's most renowned medical institutions. They started the anti-smoking movement in the 60's, so they definetely aren't tobacco-industry shills, but they assert rightly, that the anti-tobacco-policy of today (especially regarding smokeless tobacco) is total nonsense.

To make it short: From what I know, snusing is about as "dangerous" as coffee-drinking. If one enjoys snus, it's not worth the time to think about the possible risks.

Cheers!

[GN Tobacco Sweden AB]

Hey all this is my first post.. I just started snusing about 3 weeks ago in an attempt to quit smoking (am still having trouble in the morning but getting there).

Just wondering why my general can I ordered from northerner states "this product can cause mouth cancer."

Why? I've read countless times online that they had removed any cancer warnings since the risk is so low and studies only show a risk of pancreatic cancer which is still lower risk than smoking.

Is this just some stupid regulation put in by the U.S government or is general brand different for some reason?

Thanks in advance for your help!

It just stupid regulations

[Frosted]

From what I heard snus users had lower instances of oral cancer and lung cancer than people that had never used tobacco.