A new federal grant will support research at Roswell Park Cancer Institute about smokers’ interest in smokeless tobacco products.

The hospital received the $2.1 million National Institutes of Health grant to study chews, powders, dissolvable tablets and other smokeless tobacco products.

Led by principal investigator Richard O’Connor in Roswell’s Health Behavior Department, the study will assess whether current smokers use such smokeless products only as a substitute for cigarette smoking or if they are willing to switch completely from cigarettes to smokeless tobacco.

Last month, Roswell received a tobacco-related federal grant of $11.5 million over five years from National Cancer Institute to study tobacco control policies across countries to better reduce consumption levels.

Business First of Buffalo – by Tracey Drury, October 9, 2009

“SMOKELESS” CIGARETTES which look like the real thing but do not have to be lit to provide nicotine to the user, are to be introduced by Ryanair.

Smoking on commercial flights has been illegal since the 1990s, but the airline says it will introduce Similar Smokeless Cigarettes, which it says look and feel like a real cigarette and deliver a small amount of nicotine through inhalation – passengers do not light the ‘cigarette’.

The new Similar Smokeless Cigarettes are available to passengers over 18 years of age and are sold in packs of 10 on board all of the company’s flights for €6.

A company statement said they contained no toxins or chemicals and were harmless to the user and to those around them.

Company spokesman Stephen McNamara said the “cigarettes” were being introduced to help passengers who like to smoke and find it difficult to travel on an aircraft for a couple of hours without getting their nicotine hit.

“As these cigarettes are smokeless they cause no discomfort to other passengers and can ensure a more enjoyable and stress-free flight for all passengers, as non-smokers will no longer have to cope with moody smokers in need of nicotine,” he said.
© September 21, 2009
Irish Times

The UAE has banned all electronic and smokeless cigarettes from being sold in the emirates. But that’s not stopping Swiss company Olig AG from promoting their new smokeless cigarettes.

On the heels of an order that no e-cigarettes be sold by retailers in the UAE, Olig AG said it has come up with a smoke-free cigarette that does not contain carcinogens that may lead to lung cancer.

The company said it has come up with a conventional cigarette that produces heat, contains tobacco and nicotine but does not give off any smoke and doesn’t require any external energy.

The company may introduce its new product around the globe.

In the UAE, meanwhile, health officials lauded the new ban on e-cigarettes and said that though they are smoke-free, the nicotine they contain is harmful.

NEW YORK – Though the increase is slight, mortality due to cardiovascular disease is elevated among never-smokers who use smokeless tobacco products, according to a systematic review of studies and meta-analysis.

Oral and nasal smokeless tobacco products “have been proposed as an alternative to cigarettes and other smoking products under the claim of a smaller, or negligible, risk to health,” Drs. Paolo Boffetta and Kurt Straif note in their paper, published in BMJ Online First on August 19. These products’ role in myocardial infarction and stroke has not been defined.

To determine the risk, the two epidemiologists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, identified 11 observational studies conducted in Sweden and the US and published between 1992 and 2008. All studies but one involved men only. None of the participants had ever smoked tobacco. Exposure was snuff in 8 studies, spit tobacco in 2, and smokeless tobacco in 1. More than 6000 subjects were involved; 3 studies did not document number of subjects.

Eight studies determined risk estimates for fatal myocardial infarction. The relative risk for ever use of smokeless tobacco products was 1.13, with excess risk restricted to current users.

Five studies evaluated relative risk of fatal stroke, which was 1.40.

None of the analyses showed an increased risk for nonfatal myocardial infarction or stroke.

Dr. Boffetta and Dr. Straif estimate that the proportion of deaths due to myocardial infarction and stroke in the US related to smokeless tobacco products were 0.5% and 1.7%, respectively. Corresponding figures for Sweden were 5.6% and 5.4%.

“Although the magnitude of the excess risk, particularly for fatal myocardial infarction, was small,” they maintain, “the consistency of the results among studies and their robustness for study design and quality added to their credibility.”

“If the association is real,” they add, “its public health and clinical implications might be substantial.”


Copyright 18 Aug, 2009 Rtmagazine

Smokeless tobacco products, as used in Europe and North America, do not appear to increase cancer risk. A large meta-analysis, published in the open access journal BMC Medicine, has shown that snuff as used in Scandinavia has no discernible effect on the risk of various cancers. Products used in the past in the USA may have increased the risk, but any effect that exists now seems likely to be quite small.

Peter Lee and Jan Hamling, from P.N. Lee Statistics and Computing Ltd, carried out the analysis of 89 studies from the United States and Scandinavia. They found that, after adjustment for concurrent smoking, any effect of current US products or Scandinavian snuff seems very limited. According to Lee, “It is clear that any effect of smokeless tobacco on risk of cancer, if it exists at all, is quantitatively very much smaller than the known effects of smoking”.

In 2005 in US men aged 35 or over, there were a total of 142,205 deaths from seven cancers considered to be caused by smoking. If these people had never smoked, Lee and Hamling estimated that the numbers would have reduced by 104,737, with the reduction in lung cancer deaths, 79,195, being the major contributor. If smokeless tobacco was introduced to a similar population of never smokers, this meta-analysis shows that any increase in risk would be negligible compared to the lives saved by reducing cigarette use.

Lee said, “Our paper shows very clearly that, in marked contrast to smoking, smokeless tobacco use carries little or no risk of cancer. Concerns about possible effects of smokeless tobacco on oral cancer are answered by our analyses showing a lack of relationship based on the combined evidence from those 14 studies published since 1990 which allow adequate control for effects of smoking.”


© Sciencedaily

The quick rise in popularity of the electronic cigarette is creating a huge stir in the smoking world. If you have ever looked to buy electric cigarettes before, you have probably noticed the wide variety of choices out there. Although e-cigarettes don’t seem to be that complex of a product, there are significant differences that make the quality versions stand out from the cheap Chinese ones.

The electronic cigarette by Luci is quickly setting the bar high for quality e-cigs. It’s because some innovative features that are found in Luci Electronic Cigarettes aren’t in any other brand. These smokeless cigarettes contain a smart chip that controls the level of nicotine that comes out of the device. Unlike cheaper alternatives, you won’t have risk of nicotine poisoning because of this high tech unique feature.

There are many features that set apart the Luci e-cig from other brands:

DURABILITY: This is one of the toughest e-cigarettes on the market today.

SIZE: Other electronic cigarettes aren’t even close to the size of a traditional tobacco cigarette. The Luci electronic cigarette is the exact same size as your traditional cigarette.

QUALITY: The Luci E-Cigarette is the “luxury brand” of electronic cigarettes on the market today.

“I have had 3 other electronic cigarettes before I bought a Luci, I couldn’t believe how much better quality it was. I dropped it a handful of times on my tile floors and just picked it right back up without a problem,” says Steve Hanson, a Luci customer. “It was shipped to my house in 4 days, the other brands I had before this took weeks to get because they were coming from China. I regret being cheap and not just buying the highest quality one first. The money I could have saved by getting it 4 weeks sooner would have more than paid for it.”

The hundreds of testimonials from satisfied clients are what is making the Luci Electronic Cigarette the most elite smokeless cigarette on the market today. Don’t settle for cheap imitations, get the “luxury brand” of electronic cigarettes today.
Copyright © Officialwire

The use of smokeless tobacco in Jackson County has steadily risen in recent years among teens and adults — and now, officials fear the introduction earlier this year of new, candy-flavored “dissolvable tobacco” lozenges will make matters worse.

Called Orbs, the pellets, which look and taste like breath mints, contain as much nicotine as a cigarette and could cause cancer of the mouth and throat, said Jane Stevenson, tobacco program coordinator for the county.

Among eighth-grade males in Jackson County, use of smokeless tobacco jumped from 2 percent in 2001 to 7 percent in 2006, reported Stevenson. Among 11th-grade males, it rose from 10 percent in 2001 to 16 percent in 2006. Among adults here, 3 percent use smokeless tobacco. These figures are 1 to 4 percent higher than the state rates.

“The increase of smokeless tobacco use here among teens is significant and alarming — and dissolvable tobacco is just as addictive as smoking,” said Stevenson. “They are packaged to look hip and trendy and they carry the Camel logo. Usually, people are very loyal to their tobacco brand.”

The introduction of dissolvable tobacco pellets is in response to new laws prohibiting smoking in bars, restaurants and the workplace, said Mike Welch, owner of Puff’s Magazine & Fine Tobacco, an Ashland smoke shop.

The target market for dissolvable pellets, Welch added, is people who buy low-end generic cigarettes. His store won’t be selling them, he said, because too many of his customers are concerned about throat cancer.

Talent police in May warned parents about the product after finding several Talent Middle School children with them. Like cigarettes, dissolvable tobacco can be sold only to people 18 and older — but the kids got it from an older sibling, to whom it came as a free promo with cigarettes, said Talent Police Chief Mike Moran.

“You may not get the lung damage and you hear justifications about it, that adults don’t have to go stand outside to smoke,” Moran said, “but I think it’s a bad product, insidious, with high concentrations of nicotine, designed to look like candy — and it’s something no person under 18 should have any use for.”

Food 4 Less in Medford reported the product is not very popular and that people who buy them — just under $5 for 18 pellets — usually are taking advantage of coupons from magazines or other Camel products.

Dissolvable tobacco can raise blood pressure and pulse and cause heartburn, digestive problems and bad breath, Stevenson said.

Within two years, side effects can include white precancerous spots, called leukoplakia, in the mouth, tooth-staining and decay, and gum-recessing and disease.

Long-term impacts, she said, can be cancer of the mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus or stomach, heart disease, stroke and tooth loss.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reports that smokeless tobacco contains 28 carcinogens. About 3 percent of Americans use smokeless tobacco, with use highest among males, American Indians and blue-collar workers. More than a $250 million is spent annually promoting it, the CDC reports.

Stevenson said the lozenges present a new concern because, being smokeless and spit-free, they can be used in classrooms without being readily detected.

Some smokers consider them less harmful than cigarettes and are using them to kick smoking, she said, but “they are just as addictive.”

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., wrote an amendment to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act requiring the newly created Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee to study the health effects of dissolvable tobacco candy products and report its findings to the Food and Drug Administration.

“In response to a drop in the number of cigarette smokers and new laws limiting smoking in public, Big Tobacco has resorted to outrageous tactics to hook a new generation of our children on tobacco,” Merkley said in a news release.

“The tobacco companies are trying to portray new dissolvable tobacco products as harmless, but the truth is that smokeless tobacco is not safe tobacco. Tobacco candy causes cancer and kills,” he said.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said, “They are likely to appeal to children because they are flavored and packaged like candy, are easy to conceal even in a classroom, and carry the Camel brand that is already so popular with underage smokers.”

R.J. Reynolds, which makes Camels, is due to come out with dissolvable tobacco strips and toothpick-like sticks, according to industry Web sites.

“This is the future,” Stevenson said. “We’re going to see more and more of this product for people addicted to nicotine — and gram for gram, nicotine is more addictive than any substance.”

Stevenson added that with the shifting of tobacco regulation to the FDA, “they’ll have to let us know what’s in them.”


© Dailytidings

Shelly Kiser of the American Lung Association in Ohio was all set to give a presentation on Camel Orbs — a dissolvable tobacco product slightly bigger than an Altoid mint — to the Ohio School Nurses Association. All she needed was a prop.

So Kiser, director of advocacy for her organization and no great fan of Camel Orbs, headed into a Columbus, Ohio, gas station earlier this year and asked for a container of Orbs.

They gave it to her for free.

For smokers long confined to standing outside in crummy weather to get their nicotine fix, Camel Orbs is an alternative that keeps users out of the elements.

For one of the state’s U.S. senators, Sherrod Brown, and public health advocates, it’s yet another diabolical strategy to get kids hooked on smoking.

Brown successfully has added a measure calling for a quick Federal Drug Administration study of Orbs and other dissolvable tobacco products to a larger bill that would, for the first time, put tobacco products under FDA regulatory authority. The bill, with the amendment, recently passed the committee and now awaits full U.S. Senate approval. It passed the House in April.

Brown compares Orbs to candy, and said the fact that the products can be passed off as breath mints is another way to lure kids into becoming tobacco addicts at a young age.

“It is criminal to me that they market to children the way they do,” he said.

But David Howard, a spokesman for R.J. Reynolds, said the product, like all tobacco products, is legal only for adults over the age of 18.

R.J. Reynolds introduced Orbs in Columbus, Indianapolis and Portland, Ore., earlier this year, and the company said early feedback has been positive.

Orbs, he said, “meet the societal expectation of no second-hand smoke, no spitting, and in the case of dissolvables, no litter.”

He said they’re hardly candy. They are made of finely milled tobacco, and designed for adults.

“The bottom line is these are tobacco products,” he said. “They are clearly marked as tobacco products, they are marketed as tobacco products and they carry the same warnings as tobacco products.”

He said similar products — Ariva and Stonewall — have been on the market since earlier this decade with little protest.

Still, he said he welcomes Brown’s amendment and any study of their product.

Bill Godshall of a group called SmokeFree Pennsylvania counts himself as one of the defenders of Orbs. He compares the products to Nicorette or Commit lozenges and cites studies indicating they are safer than cigarettes.

“What this comes down to is people fighting for the same market,” he said.

But Brown cites studies indicating a single Orb has between 60 and 300 times the amount of tobacco contained a single cigarette. Greg Connolly, a professor of the practice of public health at Harvard University, calls Orb products “nicotine on training wheels.”

R.J. Reynolds, Connolly said, “is just trying to expand the options for nicotine delivery products for the American public.”

Smoking a cigarette for the first time can be a deeply uncomfortable experience for a teenager, Connolly said. There’s the smoke, for one thing, as well as the coughing and the taste. By turning it into a mint-like product — in mint and cinnamon flavors — they’ve made nicotine addiction a more pleasurable experience, he said.


© Rockymounttelegram