Local Students Celebrate "Kick Butts" Day

KX News, Bismarck
Click here to watch video of this story.

It’s national “Kick Butts” day… A day to encourage people to snuff tobacco out of their lives.
It’s not promoted by officials, but rather by students.
Courtney Plante shows you how Students Against Destructive Decisions are doing their part to warn their peers.
Today’s announcements at St. Mary’s are a bit different than usual.
Members of SADD, or Students Against Destructive Decisions are quizzing students about things like e-cigarettes.
Andrew Stromme wants his friends to realize the dangers of tobacco use.
“I do have some people I know that do smoke, and they’re trying to quit. They really start to realize how big of a problem it is, and how hard it is to let go,” said Andrew Stromme, St. Mary’s SADD member.
Across town, things are a little more in your face.
SADD members at Century hand out suckers and have students smell candies that are similar to flavors of e-cigarettes.
 “They are advertising to kids and people my age. So we got colorful wrappers that look like candy,” said Hannah Rexine, SADD member.
Their goal — prevent friends from using tobacco.
Or help them quit once they’ve started.
“A lot of people at my old middle school did smoke and it’s hard seeing people make those decisions so young and it can effect your future so greatly,” said Hannah Rexine, SADD member.
9th grade math teacher Marcy Feickert says there are quite a few students that use e-cigarettes.
She says educational messages like this show students how advertisements are targeting people their age.
“The kids jaws literally dropped looking at all the packaging and how attractive the packaging is now for e-cigarettes,” said Marcy Feickert.
At both schools the lesson for students is clear…
Don’t start smoking…
“I don’t want to start it because I know it’s addictive. It’s a good thing to stay away from”
“I think it’s a waste of money…all tobacco is”
Don’t fall for ads…
“E-cigarettes are the new fad right now, I mean people are trying them just because they look cool,” said Courtney Seilerm, SADD Advisor.
“You see it in the commercial, all of the colorful packaging, that appeals to younger children,” said Andrew Stromme, SADD member.
Do kick butts.
Reporting in Bismarck for KX News, I’m Courtney Plante.
At the end of the day students at St. Mary’s get cookies for correct trivia answers.

19th Annual Kick Butts Day used to promote a tobacco-free lifestyle

By Sun Staff , Jamestown Sun
The 19th annual Kick Butts Day, a national day when youths are encouraged to stand up and speak out against tobacco companies, is Wednesday.
Central Valley Health District and the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy are using this occasion to educate youth about the dangers of tobacco.
Research shows that 600 North Dakota youths under the age of 18 become new daily smokers every year, and 14,000 youths will die prematurely from smoking. In addition, 1.9 million packs of cigarettes are bought or smoked each year by youth younger than 18.
Tobacco companies are spending millions in North Dakota each year to get the youth smoking rates up, according to Jeanne Prom, executive director for the Center. Prom said that some of the tactics tobacco companies use to attract youth are candy- and fruit-flavored tobacco products, providing discounts and sales that make their products affordable and paying retailers to prominently display tobacco products in high-traffic areas.
Julie Hoeckle with Central Valley Health District said that Kick Butts Day is a great way to educate youths in the community on the importance of remaining tobacco-free and to inform everyone about the harmful marketing schemes tobacco companies are using to trap youths into using tobacco.
“It’s essential that we continue to educate our youth about tobacco marketing practices so they can identify those tactics and avoid being lured into tobacco use,” Hoeckle said. “Education is key in tobacco prevention.”
Another effective way to reduce youth smoking rates is to increase the cost of tobacco, Hoeckle said. Research supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Lung Association shows that increasing North Dakota’s tobacco tax from 44 cents to $2 would reduce youth smoking rates by 25 percent.
“By making tobacco less affordable, kids are less likely to try using tobacco,” Prom said. “North Dakota projections show us that a $2 cigarette tax has the potential to prevent nearly 8,000 kids from ever starting to use tobacco and can save millions of dollars in health care costs.”
To learn about tobacco prevention, contact Hoeckle or Nancy Neary at 252-8130 or visit www.breathend.com.
http://www.jamestownsun.com/content/19th-annual-kick-butts-day-used-promote-tobacco-free-lifestyle

Youth poisonings by e-cigarette juice increase tenfold in Minnesota

By: John Lundy, Forum News Service, INFORUM
DULUTH – The tenfold increase in Minnesota youngsters poisoned by e-cigarette juice last year is alarming, a local anti-smoking advocate said.
“It’s a startling increase and something we should be very concerned about,” said Pat McKone, Duluth-based director of tobacco control programs and policy for the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest.
But it needs to be viewed in context, said Duluth e-cigarette proprietor Daniel Albrecht, citing a much greater number of poisonings from other products.
The Minnesota Department of Health reported Tuesday that 50 teens and children were victims of poisonings related to e-cigs in 2013, compared with five the year before. More than half of those poisoned were younger than 3, and nine of the 50 were teenagers. Another 24 adults were poisoned, a news release said.
The data came from the Minnesota Poison Control System.
More than 200 Minnesota retailers sell the product, which is an electronic device that vaporizes water to supply liquids. The liquids used in e-cigarettes often include flavors such as cotton candy, bubble gum and grape. They may or may not contain nicotine.
Most e-cigarette shops opened in the past year, including two in Duluth.
Albrecht owns one of those, E-cig Empire, with his brother Mike. Most of the e-juice sold is with child-resistant caps, Albrecht said, and what he calls the vaping community is pushing for all of it to be child-safe.
“Everyone in the vaping community is all for keeping it out of the hands of children and minors,” Albrecht said. “And we’re all for that sort of legislation.”
But other products take a greater toll, Albrecht said. Close to 3,200 calls were made to Minnesota Poison Control related to personal-care products last year, he said, and almost 2,400 calls were made regarding household products.
But Albrecht said he opposes eliminating any flavors and argued that those flavors aren’t offered to appeal to children.
“As adults, we all have a right to choose,” he said. “We all had to put up with smoking the traditional analog cigarettes and they all tasted nasty and smelled gross, and now we have an alternative that we could have flavoring in it.”
Minnesota legislators are considering regulating e-cigarettes. Duluth, Cloquet and Hermantown are among Minnesota cities that already have adopted regulatory actions.
Four states — New Jersey, Utah, Arkansas and North Dakota — have passed legislation banning the use of e-cigarettes in public places.
McKone said the latest report goes hand in hand with a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report last year that e-cigarette use had doubled among teenagers from 2011 to 2012.
None of last year’s poisonings resulted in hospitalizations or serious illness, state Health Commissioner Ed Ehlinger said.
But McKone said the fact that symptoms were alarming enough to cause calls to the Poison Control System speaks for itself.
“I hope we don’t have to have a fatality to say it wasn’t so bad,” McKone said. “I think as a parent myself any time I would be in a position to be calling Poison Control and concerned about my child having ingested something and having symptoms — that’s more than enough cause for us to be concerned.”
But responsible parenting can prevent those problems, Albrecht said.
“I think parents of children need to be much more responsible and keep things out of reach,” he said.
Symptoms of nicotine poisoning may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures and/or difficulty breathing, the Health Department news release said. A fatal dose of nicotine for an adult is between 50 and 60 milligrams. E-juice containers may include between 18 and 24 milligrams.

Don Davis contributed to this report.
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/429747/

States push to regulate, tax booming e-cigarette industry

By , Fox News
WASHINGTON –  While waiting for the debate on electronic cigarettes to heat up on Capitol Hill, several state and local governments are pressing ahead with their own agendas for taxing and regulating the popular battery-powered smoking alternatives.
Right now, there is no uniform national approach to regulating the vapor-based e-cigarettes. They are mostly free from federal rules and typically are subject only to state sales taxes.
But lawmakers in more than two dozen cash-strapped states are racing to regulate them as a new source of revenue. For some, this means tacking on an excise tax — which is a fee on a specific product, and often dubbed a “sin tax” when applied to socially shunned products like cigarettes.
Minnesota has led the charge and is currently the only state that’s got a specific tax policy for e-cigarettes on the books. The 2012 decision subjects vapor inhalers to a 95 percent tax that is stapled to the wholesale cost of the product.
According to the Minnesota Department of Revenue, e-cigarettes are considered tobacco products and are subject to the state’s tobacco tax. Distributors there are required to pay the tobacco tax or risk losing their license. Retailers must purchase e-cigarettes from distributors licensed by the state and are expected to “collect and remit sales tax on e-cigarette sales.”
In total, Minnesota estimates it will bring in $1.16 billion from all of its tobacco taxes in fiscal year 2014-2015.
Other states are taking notice.
In his 2015 budget proposal last month, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pitched a plan to hike taxes on electronic cigarettes to match the rate of regular cigarettes — about $2.70 per pack.
Supporters say increasing taxes will keep them out of the hands of children and teens.
But critics argue treating traditional cigarettes the same as e-cigs will hurt small businesses and strip smokers of the incentive to quit.
“Small businesses like convenience stores and especially brick and mortar vape shops will be hardest hit by this $35 million tax increase,” Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist wrote in a March 11-dated letter sent to the New Jersey Legislature and shared with FoxNews.com.
Norquist also warns that raising taxes on consumers will “significantly decrease in-state sales, resulting in increased cross-border tax leakage.”
In recent years, as much as 40 percent of all cigarettes smoked in New Jersey were smuggled into the state illegally, resulting in a loss of more than $500 million in uncollected tax revenue each year, he says.
“By making New Jersey uncompetitive in e-cigarette pricing, the state would encourage smuggling, which will cost New Jersey small businesses tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue,” he said.
But to some, like New Jersey Democratic Assemblyman Dan Benson, taxing e-cigarettes is not only a fiscal responsibility but also sends an important message to would-be smokers.
“If e-cigarettes are taxed less than regular cigarettes, we’re sending a message out there that they’re somehow safer, and I think the jury is out on that,” he recently told a New Jersey radio station.
Meanwhile, a similar proposal in Washington state recently died in the Legislature. That plan would have redefined “vapor products” – the kind used in e-cigarettes – as “tobacco substitutes” and “tobacco products.” By changing their classification to a tobacco product, lawmakers were initially hoping to slap a 95 percent tax on them, projected to generate an additional $40 million for the state.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the vapor from e-cigarettes has “far fewer of the toxins found in smoke compared to traditional cigarettes.”
However, the Atlanta-based agency says it’s too soon to say how much of a health benefit the alternative to traditional cigarettes offers. Both traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes contain nicotine.
Tim McAfee, CDC’s director of Smoking and Health, says while it’s reasonably certain that if someone who smokes a pack a day switched completely to e-cigarettes it could represent a health benefit, there are still many “caveats and buts” around that.
Many argue that the reason state and local leaders are pushing so hard to tax e-cigarettes is because they’ve become addicted to the massive amounts of money brought in through the Master Settlement Agreement – a 25-year settlement that forces the nation’s top tobacco companies to pay out billions of dollars in profit to help pay for smoking-related health care costs in some states.
The 1998 settlement, for example, makes Philip Morris USA, the nation’s largest cigarette maker, pay $3.5 billion annually. The second-largest tobacco company, Reynolds Tobacco Co., has handed out more than $2 billion a year.
In total, the landmark settlement requires tobacco product manufacturers to make $206 billion in payments to 46 states and U.S.-territories.
If e-cigarettes are regulated the same way, that might mean millions more for states still struggling to find financial footing following the recession.
Utah, North Dakota and the District of Columbia have included e-cigarettes as part of their indoor-smoking bans, setting up the argument that the vapor sticks should be regulated like other tobacco products in the state. Wyoming, Tennessee, New York and Colorado are among nine other states that have already dumped e-cigarettes into the tobacco product category.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/03/18/states-push-to-regulate-tax-booming-e-cigarette-industry/

Letter: Commending CVS for tobacco policy

By: Keely Ihry, Moorhead, INFORUM
As a public health agency we are always educating on the harms of tobacco-use and exposure. We know that smoking kills nearly 500,000 Americans each year, and costs $289 billion in health care costs. Even with the dangers of tobacco use being well documented, the pharmacy industry has continued to sell tobacco products, and as a health care organization this has started to raise some ethical questions. Pharmacies are seen by people as places they go to get better when sick, and to stay healthy during the year, not as a place that should be profiting off products that are the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.
This is why we truly commend CVS for taking one of the strongest actions any business has ever taken to address the public health problems caused by tobacco use. CVS recognized that selling tobacco products did not align with their commitment to improving the health and wellness of its customers. It should also be noted that CVS chooses not to sell e-cigarettes because they are not FDA approved.
This came at a great time with the momentum of the 50th anniversary of the first ever surgeon general’s warning on smoking and health. In the release the surgeon general called for continued work towards encouraging smokers to quit and preventing youth from starting to use tobacco. We know that nearly 90 percent of youth start smoking before the age of 18. CVS’ decision to stop selling tobacco is a huge statement to Americans, especially youth that tobacco use is harmful to their health.
We hope that this will encourage other pharmacies who are selling tobacco to take notice and take similar action. Removing the sale of tobacco products from a healthcare organization just makes good sense.
Ihry is PartnerSHIP 4 Health tobacco coordinator, Clay County Public Health.
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/429362/group/Opinion/

Chuck Schumer goes after marketing of e-cigarettes to kids

BY / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Fearful big tobacco could hook a new crop of smokers, Sen. Chuck Schumer says he’s backing legislation to stub out the marketing of e-cigarettes to children.
Schumer said tobacco companies are upping the appeal of vaping devices by making kid-friendly flavors like cotton candy and gummy bears.
“They are making a campaign to go after kids and that must stop,” Schumer said Sunday.
He vowed to push the so-called Protecting Children From Electronic Cigarette Advertising Act through the Senate. The legislation would close loopholes in advertising laws that tobacco companies have exploited to hook kids.
Schumer cited a study published last week in JAMA Pediatrics, which found that adolescents who smoke e-cigarettes are seven times more likely to smoke traditional cigarettes.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/chuck-schumer-e-cigarette-marketing-kids-article-1.1716091#ixzz2vgNEUEZf

On e-cigarettes, many questions but few answers

By Consumer Reports
Maybe a friend or family member uses one. Or maybe you’re using one yourself to try to kick a tobacco habit.
Whatever your experience with electronic cigarettes, it seems that the battery-powered devices, which deliver a form of nicotine and mimic the feel of traditional cigarettes, are here to stay, according to Consumer Reports. Sales grew from about $500 million in 2012 to an estimated $1.5 billion in 2013. That’s a fraction of the cigarette market — roughly $100 billion per year — but reflects a 200 percent growth, in contrast to the steady decline in tobacco sales.
E-cigarettes are marketed as a more socially permissible alternative to smoking. But what exactly are users — and the people around them — breathing in? Are the cigarettes safe? And with flavors such as Cherry Crush, Peach Schnapps, and Vivid Vanilla, to whom are they really marketed? Consumer Reports supplies answers to some key questions about electronic cigarettes.
What’s in them? The main component is a refillable or replaceable cartridge of liquid “juice” that contains nicotine, solvents, and flavors. When users draw on the device, it causes the battery to heat the liquid solution, which is then atomized into a vapor that can be inhaled. The claimed levels of nicotine vary. Blu e-cigs, for example, offer cartridges of different strengths, from no nicotine to approximately 13 to 16 milligrams, with each cartridge containing enough for 250 or more “puffs.”
How are they regulated? At the moment, they aren’t. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to release a proposed rule that would allow the agency to regulate them as they do other tobacco products. That could result in restrictions on advertising or sale to minors. It also would probably require companies to disclose ingredients and conform to certain manufacturing standards.
In the meantime, some states and municipalities — most recently New York City — have enacted bans on e-cigarettes in public parks and indoor venues where cigarette smoking isn’t allowed. You can find a list of local bans at no-smoke.org/pdf/ecigslaws.pdf.
Are they safe to use? We don’t know yet. They expose users and people around them to fewer toxins than tobacco cigarettes, but that doesn’t mean they’re risk free. Nicotine is very addictive, so e-cigs — especially the fruit and candy-flavored ones — could hook young people on the stimulant, or serve as a gateway to real cigarettes, health officials warn.
And because they’re unregulated, you don’t necessarily know what’s in them. In 2009 the FDA detected diethylene glycol, a toxic chemical used in antifreeze, in some e-cig samples and carcinogens called nitrosamines in others. Questions also linger over secondhand “vapor.”
Do they help smokers quit? They might, though Consumer Reports points out that they’re not approved for that by the FDA. And, as with approved quitting methods, the results aren’t that impressive. In a study of 657 smokers published last fall, e-cigs were about as effective as nicotine patches and were slightly better than placebo e-cigarettes, which contain no nicotine.
But the differences were minor, and the overall number of people who quit with any method was low. After six months, about 7 percent of those in the e-cigarettes group and 6 percent of those who used nicotine patches stopped smoking compared to 4 percent of those who used placebo e-cigs.
Bottom line. The main reason it’s so hard to say whether e-cigarettes are safe is that they simply haven’t been around long enough to know. If you’re trying to give up real cigarettes, stick with better studied methods: nicotine gum, patches, and counseling. And if you don’t smoke, don’t start with e-cigs just for fun.
Consumer Reports writes columns, reviews, and ratings on cars, appliances, electronics, and other consumer goods. Previous stories can be found at consumerreports.org.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/03/09/cigarettes-still-many-questions/bxMmW3157LVoOQh91hLOBJ/story.html

Letter: Big tobacco goes after ‘replacement smokers’

By: Beth Hughes, Bismarck, INFORUM
Even though the risks of using tobacco are well documented, it remains the No. 1 cause of preventable death and disease in the country. This year alone, nearly 500,000 Americans will die prematurely because of smoking. Unfortunately, tobacco marketing efforts recruit two new young smokers to replace each tobacco user who dies.
It’s well documented that tobacco companies market to youth in an effort to recruit “replacement smokers.” Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells us that smoking and smokeless tobacco use are initiated and established primarily during adolescence. In fact, nearly 9 out of 10 smokers start smoking by the age of 18. Tobacco companies know this and continually look for new ways to hook our youth.
Tobacco companies pay convenience stores – many located near schools – and other tobacco retailers to prominently display advertisements for their products near the entrances, exits and checkouts. Tobacco companies also target a new generation of potential tobacco users by designing items to appeal to youth, such as fruit-flavored products in colorful packaging that make tobacco look and smell like candy.
In addition to new flavors and packaging, price is another factor that affects tobacco use. In states with low tobacco taxes, like North Dakota, it’s easier to make tobacco products affordable, and that makes it easier for youth to obtain tobacco. Research supported by the CDC and the American Lung Association shows that increasing a tobacco tax is one of the most effective ways to reduce youth tobacco use; by making tobacco less affordable, kids are less likely to buy it.
The Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy uses media campaigns to educate the public about the dangers of tobacco use. The Center also works with local public health units across the state to educate our communities on tobacco prevention so our children live healthier lives as fewer of them become addicted to nicotine.
We are committed to preventing tobacco use among our youth and adult populations. We’ve made great progress, but there is more work to be done. Showing support for tobacco prevention efforts in your community is a great start to help reduce youth tobacco use rates. Here is what you can do:
• Support tobacco-free and smoke-free policies within your community. When youth are not exposed to tobacco, it increases their chance to remain tobacco free.
• Support policies that restrict how tobacco is marketed. Tobacco companies are aggressive marketers that target youth through retail displays, internet marketing and magazines that are popular with teens.
• Support tobacco tax increases. Our youth are less likely to use tobacco if it is less affordable.
These strategies are CDC Best Practice strategies – strategies that are proven to reduce youth tobacco use rates. We ask the community to join us in this fight by showing your support for tobacco prevention.

Hughes, Ph.D., is a registered respiratory therapist, and chairwomen, North Dakota Tobacco Prevention and Control Committee.
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/428702/group/Opinion/

Players find tobacco habit hard to shake

By Peter Abraham |  BOSTON GLOBE

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The sequence when Red Sox slugger David Ortiz walks to home plate has been the same for years now.
Big Papi tucks his bat under his right arm, spits into the palm of his batting glove, and slaps his hands together before staring out at the pitcher.
But there’s one aspect of the routine that Ortiz wishes he could stop: the need to have a pinch of tobacco in his right cheek.
It’s a habit he picked up in the minor leagues and can’t break.
“I use it as a stimulator when I go to hit,” Ortiz said. “But the minute I finish my at-bat I spit it out. It keeps me smooth and puts me in a good mood. I don’t do it in the offseason. I don’t really like it that much, to be honest with you.”
Smokeless tobacco use stubbornly remains a part of baseball, even though Major League Baseball has tried to discourage its use for the last few years because it is known to increase the risk of cancer. While smokeless tobacco use is not as prevalent in baseball as it was several years ago, a survey of the 58 Red Sox players invited to spring training this year found 21 who admitted to using it.
“It’s a nasty habit, but it’s one of those traditions in baseball,” said Red Sox manager John Farrell, who “dipped” smokeless tobacco when he played and admits to using it now on occasion.
Major League Baseball rules prohibit teams from providing tobacco products to players and strongly encourages clubhouse attendants not to purchase tobacco for players. Players cannot have tobacco tins in their uniform pockets or do televised interviews while using smokeless tobacco. Violators are subject to fines; no Red Sox players have been fined.
The rules were put in place in 2011 as part of the latest collective bargaining agreement with the Players Association. An initial proposal to ban tobacco use entirely was rejected by the players. The idea behind the rule change was to look out for the health of the players, present a better example to children, and clean up the image of a game long stained by disgusting brown spit.
“When I first started playing, everybody did it,” said Ortiz, the team’s most veteran player. “Now you see fewer guys because everybody knows it’s bad for you. They try to educate us about it, but some people don’t listen.”
As part of the effort to discourage use, the Red Sox provide alternatives to their players. There are five flavors of bubble gum available in the clubhouse, along with tubs of sunflower seeds. There’s even a big box of fruit chews imported from Japan.
Most players who use smokeless tobacco actually use snuff, finely ground tobacco usually placed under the lower lip. A few players chew leaf tobacco, creating telltale bulging cheeks.
In the Globe’s informal poll, the only Red Sox player who said he didn’t want to quit was outfielder Jonny Gomes. He’s also the only one interviewed who uses chewing tobacco, not snuff.
“I’d quit if my family wanted me to,” Gomes said. “The kids aren’t old enough to realize what’s going on. People are baffled I don’t do it in the offseason because I do it all the time when we’re playing. But I don’t have an addictive personality. There’s just something about it that goes with baseball. There’s something attached to hitting. I can’t describe it.
“Once I stop playing, I’ll never do it again. I know it’s a bad idea.”
For each player, the habit takes on different forms. Pitchers Jake Peavy and Felix Doubront said they use smokeless tobacco only when they’re on the mound. Fellow pitchers Andrew Miller and Clay Buchholz use it during games but not when they’re pitching.
“It’s just part of my routine when I play,” first baseman Mike Napoli said. “It would feel weird without it. I’ve gone a couple of months without it. But as soon as I step on a field, I feel like I need it.”
The dangers of smokeless tobacco are evident.
It increases the risk of various forms of oral cancer, gum disease, and lesions in the mouth that can become cancerous, according to the American Cancer Society and other medical groups. Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn was found to have mouth cancer in 2010 and required extensive surgery. He believes it was from tobacco use.
Smokeless tobacco delivers a greater dose of nicotine — the addictive ingredient in tobacco — than a cigarette, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Although the nicotine is absorbed more slowly, a greater amount stays in the bloodstream.
Starting in 2012, teams were required to have dentists screen players for signs of oral cancer. The Red Sox had their exams when they reported to spring training.
“You certainly understand what MLB is trying to do,” Peavy said. “I respect that. At the same time, it’s really, really hard to tell grown men who have been in this game and done it for a long time that they can’t do something that’s legal. Old habits die hard.
“I grew up with it,” said Peavy, who grew up and still lives in Alabama. “It was big with my family. Next thing you know, you’re buying cans and you’re addicted to nicotine.”
But Peavy wants to quit because of his three young baseball-loving sons.
“I can’t stand the idea of them seeing me do it and thinking it’s OK for them,” he said.
Doubront, who has two sons, feels the same way.
“My family hates it,” he said.
Fears that players’ children, and young fans, will follow their lead are well founded. A survey done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2009 found that 15 percent of high school boys were using smokeless tobacco, a 36 percent increase from 2003.
Third baseman Brandon Snyder quit after he found out his wife was pregnant early last season.
“One night I had a dream that I died from something having to do with dip,” he said. “When I woke up I didn’t have the slightest want or need for a tobacco product. I had been doing it since I was 13.”
Because tobacco use is prohibited in the minor leagues and most levels of amateur baseball, many younger players arrive in the majors unfamiliar with it. But two Sox prospects, outfielder Bryce Brentz and lefthander Drake Britton, said the minor league tobacco ban is only casually enforced.
“I did it in the minors,” Britton said. “The people who want to can still do it. They’ll look in your locker to see if you have it, but that’s really it.”
Britton was casually spitting into a water bottle as he spoke.
“I know I need to quit,” he said. “I don’t want to be one of those guys who never quits, dips the rest of my life, and gets cancer.”
Brentz, 25, is trying to quit now. He’s worried he’ll reach for a tin once he goes hitless in a game.
“It doesn’t take much for a baseball player to blame something,” he said. “I should feel the same chewing gum, but I don’t. It’s addicting.”
Snyder and Gomes have tried chewing a mint product manufactured in Danvers. Jake’s Mint Chew, founded in 2010, has provided a tobacco alternative to players from the Red Sox, Orioles, Dodgers, and Twins, along with a few NFL players.
Adam Benezra, who founded the company with Jake Sweeney, said sales rose by 132 percent after the first year and have climbed steadily sense. The company now has seven employees.
“We get a lot of athletes who contact us,” Benezra said.
Miller could be the next.
“I’m torn all the time, but there are dangers in everything,” he said. “I try for moderation, and I don’t do it in the offseason. It’s a habit during baseball season for me, and it always has been. I wish it wasn’t. I feel like an idiot for doing it.”
http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/03/06/tobacco-chewing-nasty-habit-still-kicking-mlb/nZDZK9LOFDlr0MFj9X1WkO/story.html

E-cigarettes ignite debate over regulation, sales

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Banning the sale of electronic cigarettes to kids may seem like a no-brainer, yet Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration and a number of health advocacy groups oppose legislation that does just that. They say it doesn’t go far enough.
Players on both sides of the state’s e-cigarette debate agree that the nicotine-dispensing devices should be kept away from minors, but opinions differ when it comes to regulating the relatively unstudied vaporizers.
Tobacco companies support two bipartisan Senate bills prohibiting the sale and use of e-cigarettes and other devices that deliver nicotine if the buyer is younger than 18 years old. Sen. Glenn Anderson, D-Westland, said he is sponsoring the legislation because it’s “outrageous” that a minor can legally buy and use a highly addictive product. The bills unanimously passed the Senate Thursday.
But Snyder’s administration and health advocates say the bills would give e-cigarettes a “special status” and protect them from standard tobacco regulations. They want e-cigarettes to be treated like traditional cigarettes, not only in regards to minors, but taxes and public use laws as well. Such regulations would ban e-cigarette use in workplaces or restaurants, a restriction that’s currently left up to individual businesses.
“The appropriate thing to do in Michigan now is to act to help protect the population against the potential health risks of e-cigarettes, about which we know very little,” said Dr. Matthew Davis, chief medical executive for the Community Health Department.
Electronic cigarettes are cylindrical battery-powered devices that heat a liquid to produce vapor. While the liquid often includes nicotine, which can be derived from tobacco, e-cigarettes have not been officially designated as tobacco products. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates cigarettes and smokeless tobacco and has said it intends to propose changes to its authority to regulate e-cigarettes, too.
Twenty-seven states ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Most of those state laws are similar to the Senate legislation.
Opponents are countering with a House bill that would treat e-cigarettes as tobacco products.
Rep. Gail Haines, R-Lake Angelus, introduced the bill Wednesday after working with the administration and health groups such as the American Cancer Society and American Lung Association. She declined to comment before the bill was assigned to a committee.
Anderson said an effort to designate e-cigarettes as tobacco products would fail ahead of the FDA’s decision.
“Most of us would prefer for the FDA to make the decision, and they are going to do it probably sometime this year, but I don’t want to wait,” bill sponsor Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, said. “I want to stop the sale to children now, immediately.”
E-cigarettes are often produced by the same parent companies as traditional cigarettes and have grown increasingly popular over the past few years. U.S. middle and high school students’ use of e-cigarettes more than doubled from 2011 to 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in September. The share of high school students who had used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days increased from 1.5 percent to 2.8 percent in the survey. More than 1.78 million middle and high school students tried e-cigarettes in 2012.
“As I read to a fourth grade last week, one of the children said, ‘My friends and I bought some and we played with them,'” Jones said on the Senate floor.
Mark Bilger, 18, asked his mother to contact Anderson about concerns over e-cigarettes in September after studying them for his debate club. Bilger, a senior at Detroit Catholic Central High School, said he noticed e-cigarettes were “becoming a real problem in my school” and that students occasionally use them in class “when the teacher’s back is turned” without getting caught “because there’s no smell, there’s only vapor.”
“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” Bilger said about the Senate legislation. “But I think they need some of the same regulations traditional cigarettes have, where you regulate what you put in it and have more testing on it.”
Lance McNally, 39, is one of Jones’ constituents who began using e-cigarettes in December. He owns three e-cigarettes and still smokes traditional cigarettes. He wants to transition fully to vaporizers because “there’s no stench.”
While McNally only uses tobacco-flavored e-cigarette liquid, he said his wife goes for more unusual flavors.
“Strawberry, cheesecake — those are the two main ones,” he said.
McNally said he’s not worried about flavors or advertisements appealing to minors because “I’m not seeing an inundation of marketing.” E-cigarette legislation is unnecessary because many retailers already won’t sell them to minors, he said.
“I don’t think they should be regulated like cigarettes,” McNally said. “I’m kind of a deregulation guy to begin with. I don’t see where the government needs to be wasting its energy and time and my money on another product.”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/07/e-cigarettes-regulation-sales/6181091/