Another BS snus article.

[AtreyuKun]

I've said my bit.

[chadizzy1]

Jeff Stier laid the smack down.

"JeffSTIER 02/04/2011 11:13 AM

Add Joseph Lee's Department of Family Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill to groups opposing the use of "tobacco harm reduction," which is the use of less harmful products than cigarettes to help people quit smoking.

Late last year the FDA warned about the safety of E-cigarettes, and began a campaign to keep them away from smokers. E-cigarettes not only supply "clean" nicotine, but also look like cigarettes--many even having an LED light at the tip. These products, which contain no actual tobacco, are noncombustible.

While nicotine is addictive, it isn't particularly harmful. It is like the caffeine in soda. It makes you want to drink more, but it isn't the caffeine that'll pack on the pounds- it is the calories from the sugar.

E-cigarettes are being used by many smokers to quit smoking real cigarettes. But the FDA, which found very tiny levels of carcinogens in some E-cigarettes, is doing everything it can to keep smokers from getting their hands on this far less dangerous product.

The FDA's strategy entails calling for E-cigarettes to go through the expensive testing that medicines and drug devices have to endure, rather than have them regulated, more loosely, ironically, like their more dangerous distant cousin, cigarettes.


While we'd certainly benefit from a review of their safety as well as their efficacy as cessation devices, you don't need to be a heart surgeon to know they aren't as dangerous as the real thing.

Just this month, the FDA sought to overturn a court decision which denied it the right to confiscate E-cigarettes shipped from oversees.

Meanwhile, some states and municipalities seek to ban the use of E-cigarettes everywhere that smoking is already prohibited.

Similarly, articles like this one oppose the use of snus, or smokeless tobacco, as a means of harm reduction. Studies from Sweden show that snus has been used effectively to help smokers quit smoking cigarettes. Again, snus isn't a "safe" product, but it is up to 99 times safer than cigarettes. But so-called "health groups" are making it a priority to stop smokers from doing the same here. And the FDA and other agencies are on leading the charge in the fight against tobacco harm reduction.

This "quit or die" approach is hard to defend. Even with nicotine replacement therapy like the gum or the patch, fewer than 15% of people trying to quit manage to remain off cigarettes for as long as six months.

The best argument puritanical activists and government regulators make is that tobacco companies aren't trying to get people to switch, rather, they are trying to keep smokers addicted by training them to use smokeless in areas where smoking isn't allowed.

But this so-called "dual use" argument is dubious. The reason companies haven't been more persuasively encouraging smokers to switch to smokeless is because it would be against the new tobacco control law!
Tobacco companies are forbidden from telling consumers a simple, critical, and undeniable fact: that smokeless tobacco is not as harmful as cigarette smoking.

But now, at least one tobacco company is taking the "switch" argument directly to smokers who want to quit smoking. In (what shouldn't actually be) provocative new ads, Reynolds America's "Smoke-Free REsolution" campaign
the company is telling smokers they can quit smoking by using snus. The ads simply ignore the best argument to switch, which is that the product is less-likely to kill you. And for that, we have the government and the "health" activists to blame. These are the very ads Mr. Lee finds so offensive.

Clearly, the best thing for smokers to do is to quit tobacco completely. But the multitudes who have tried and failed to quit smoking should not despair; tell the nanny-staters to 'butt out', so you can realistically resolve to quit smoking, this time with the help of less harmful approaches like E-cigarettes and snus."

[jagmanss]

Ok! Chad please refresh my memory without having to re-read all of this, But who is Jeff Stier... Since That article was written by Joseph Lee....

[chadizzy1]

He replied in the comments.

He used to be on the American Council Science and Health, I think he's independent now. He's been on CNN, etc...

He's pro harm reduction and pro snus.

[chadizzy1]

http://peters.patch.com/articles/tob...the-difference

"Cigarettes and snuff are becoming a thing of the past," said Smith. "People can now get a quick fix of nicotine on a tablet, hand gel, or a bottle of water."



Apparently this backpack let's parents know what to look for that their kids shouldn't have.

[lxskllr]

So bottled water, beef jerky, and chewing gum are out. Got it. I'll be sure to keep an eye on my daughter's stuff for these despicable products.

[Veganpunk]

So bottled water, beef jerky, and chewing gum are out. Got it. I'll be sure to keep an eye on my daughter's stuff for these despicable products.

I was wondering about that too. I mean, beef jerky??

[precious007]

Completely avoids harm reduction and demonizes snus right off the bat with, "For smokers, the majority of whom try to quit every year, the message should be to quit tobacco use, not to substitute one form of cancer for another."

Please sound off in the comments.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/02/...moke-free.html

I'll tell you the truth right of the bat...

No safe form of tobacco use exists. Smokers who try tobacco snus products are at high risk of becoming addicted to both cigarettes and snus, thus continuing or even adding to their risk for lung, bladder, breast, cervical, oral and pancreatic cancer.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/02/...#ixzz1Ff15apdu

Hence, quitting smoking using snus is one thing........ becoming addicted and hooked on snus is another beast ..... that's probably hard to beat :^)

[fishmeat]

^^^ Well atleast all I see is Americanized stuff, no Swedish snus. Also, wtf?!?! Stonewalls? I haven't been able to find those anywhere!

[AtreyuKun]

Well snus only causes cancer in the US. Must be something in the air.