There is little more disheartening than scientists who pursue unscientific ideological agendas when public health is at risk. Yet that s what happened at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society this week, where a group of scientists reported finding the first strong oral carcinogen in smokeless tobacco such as chewing tobacco, snuff, and other products.
Dr. Stephen Hecht, a researcher in carcinogenesis and chemoprevention at the University of Minnesota, led the study that identified NNN (one of a class of compounds called nitrosamines that are found in tobacco) as the carcinogen in question. Dr. Hecht and colleagues arrived at this conclusion after they fed two forms of NNN to laboratory rats for 17 months and found that the rats developed oral and esophageal tumors.
Since NNN is found in smokeless tobacco along with a myriad of other substances Dr. Hecht felt the need to impugn these non-combustible products by implying that they are indeed thanks to his new research somehow as toxic as cigarettes. He believes that the results are especially important because of the growing use of smokeless tobacco, especially among younger people who think it is a safer form of tobacco than cigarettes.
But not only are the results of the study far from novel, they also have nothing to do with the safety of smokeless tobacco products in humans. Perhaps conveniently, Dr. Hecht neglects to acknowledge the human epidemiology from the Swedish experience of the past fifty-plus years. Public health data from that country shows that users of modern smokeless tobacco products (widely known as snus) are not at an increased risk of oral or throat cancer, compared to non-users of tobacco.
Dr. Hecht knows full well that smokeless tobacco is a safer form of tobacco use than cigarettes, says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. Making statements that indicate otherwise only suggests his ideological agenda: to disparage harm reduction. Yet tobacco harm reduction is actually a progressive approach to helping smokers quit. It relies on reduced risk tobacco products and cleaner nicotine delivery systems to help the 45 million addicted smokers in our country quit their lethal habit.
You can read more about tobacco harm reduction in ACSH'S publication here.