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WebMD News from HealthDay: FDA Launches Ad Campaign Against Chewing Tobacco

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, April 19, 2016 (HealthDay News) — U.S. health officials said Tuesday that they are targeting rural teenagers with a new $36 million ad campaign that highlights the health risks associated with chewing tobacco.

The campaign’s message — “smokeless doesn’t mean harmless” — will challenge a habit that has become a tradition in the rural United States, said Mitch Zeller, director of the Center for Tobacco Products at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“It is culturally ingrained in many rural communities, and can be seen as a rite of passage and an acceptable societal norm,” Zeller said during a Tuesday morning news conference. He noted that smokeless tobacco use is more than twice as common in rural areas as it is in urban settings.

Chewing tobacco, snuff and other smokeless tobacco products have been linked to multiple kinds of cancer, gum disease, tooth loss and nicotine addiction, Zeller said.

Nevertheless, smokeless tobacco use has become increasingly popular among rural male teenagers, according to FDA research.

Every day in the United States, nearly 1,000 males younger than 18 try smokeless tobacco for the first time, outpacing those who take their first puff on a cigarette, Zeller said. About one-third of rural white males aged 12 to 17 have tried or are at risk of trying smokeless tobacco, totaling approximately 629,000 male youth nationwide.

Rural teens are used to seeing role models use smokeless tobacco, including fathers, grandfathers, older brothers and community leaders, Zeller explained.

“When people who these teens most trust and admire openly use and share smokeless tobacco, the product is seen as acceptable, and even as an expected part of growing up and belonging,” Zeller said.

This is the first time the FDA has focused on smokeless tobacco in an ad campaign, said Kathy Crosby, director of the FDA’s Office of Health Communication and Education.

Crosby said the campaign will focus on 35 rural markets across the United States, including: Albany, Ga.; Billings, Mont.; Flint, Mich.; Medford, Ore.; Monroe, La.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; Little Rock, Ark.; and Tri-Cities, Tenn.

Ads linked to the campaign show young men with ugly lip sores and horrific facial scars caused by mouth cancer, and a football player being tossed around by a nicotine addiction “monster.” The ads will run on local television and in print, while others appear on local radio and through social media.

The new campaign will also collaborate with select Minor League Baseball teams to help combat the link between baseball and smokeless tobacco use among the campaign’s target audience, Crosby said.

This summer, stadiums across the country will display campaign advertising and provide opportunities for fans to meet players who support the campaign’s public health message, she said.

The FDA also is in ongoing talks with Major League Baseball about joining the campaign, and Zeller said he is “optimistic” that a partnership will be announced sometime this season.

Major cities such as Boston, Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco have banned smokeless tobacco products at ballparks and other sports venues. Major League Baseball has warned that players caught violating the ban in these cities will be subject to discipline from the commissioner.

The smokeless tobacco campaign is an offshoot of the FDA’s award-winning “The Real Cost” campaign, which since 2014 has been warning teenagers about the health effects of smoking.

http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20160419/fda-launches-ad-campaign-against-chewing-tobacco

Opinion: No place in baseball for smokeless tobacco

By: Dick Durbin | As published in the Chicago Tribune

My feelings about tobacco took shape at the bedside of my father in November 1959. I was a sophomore in high school when lung cancer took his life. He was 53 and had smoked two packs of Camels a day.

As a member of Congress I first went up against the powerful tobacco lobby in 1987 and shocked myself and my colleagues by passing a bill banning smoking on airplanes on domestic flights of less than two hours. That measure turned out to be a tipping point. A series of local, state and federal laws followed, leading to restricting tobacco use on all flights, on trains and in hospitals, offices, restaurants and malls.

Despite all these victories, my battle against tobacco consistently struck out in one key area. For over 20 years I have been trying to get spit tobacco out of Major League Baseball.

Just as youth players wear their socks and sweatbands like the pros, or mimic the swing or windup of their favorite star, they are watching as baseball players slip a wad of tobacco in their cheek or under their lip. That sends a visual message, leading teenage boys to imitate this dangerous habit.

The numbers tell the story. While use of cigarettes and cigars among high school athletes declined from 30 percent to 18 percent between 2001 and 2013, use of smokeless tobacco increased by 10 percent in that population over the same period.

Among 8th grade students, the use of smokeless tobacco increased 14 percent between 2013 and 2015. Each year, nearly half a million kids age 12-17 use smokeless tobacco for the first time.

Tony Gwynn, the legendary San Diego hitter, was the most well-known baseball victim of salivary gland cancer caused by spit tobacco. Before his death in 2014, Gwynn attributed his oral cancer to his chewing tobacco use, “Of course it caused it … I always dipped on my right side,” he remarked. He and his family were honest about the cause of his death and reminded us of the real danger of this deadly habit.

Baseball owners such as Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago White Sox are outspoken opponents of spit tobacco. They remind me that all forms of tobacco are banned in the minors. Bobby Brown, a former Yankee and a medical doctor, became president of the American League. He joined the late Joe Garagiola, the former St. Louis Cardinal player and announcer, in leading the fight against spit tobacco. Despite all this opposition, the owners ran into a brick wall negotiating the issue with the players’ organization. I remember calling the players’ lead negotiator, Donald Fehr, many years ago. When I raised the danger of spit tobacco to the health of his players, he said: “It’s a negotiable item” and hung up.

The 2016 baseball season marks a long-anticipated breakthrough.

With the leadership of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, five major league cities (New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco) have enacted ordinances banning spit tobacco at their ballparks, and Toronto and Washington, D.C., are considering similar bans. When I met Tony Clark, the head of the Players Association, at a Major League Baseball event in Havana a few weeks ago, I reminded him that his players have to live in this new world. I don’t want to see any player embarrassed or fined. I just want a sport I love to stop promoting a deadly tobacco habit.

Democrat Dick Durbin is the senior U.S. senator from Illinois.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-durbin-baseball-smokeless-tobacco-perspec-0331-md-20160415-story.html

USA Today Column: Past time for MLB to ban smokeless tobacco

Use among teen athletes is rising and won’t fall until their MLB role models give it up.

By: Frank Pallone

The first pitches of the new Major League Baseball season in Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco mark the moment players there must abide by local laws that ban chewing tobacco use in ballparks. Similar restrictions in Chicago and New York will go into effect later this season. This is a first in the major leagues, and a welcome change, but it’s long past time to get chewing tobacco out of America’s pastime.

Chewing tobacco has been pervasive in the game since the rules of modern baseball were first written in 1845.

What’s different today is that the dangers are well known. The use of chewing tobacco has devastating health effects, including oral, pancreatic, and esophageal cancer. It also leads to heart and gum disease, tooth decay, and the loss of jaws, chins, cheeks and noses.

After years of suffering through a difficult and painful battle with cancer, former San Diego Padres Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn died in June 2014 of salivary gland cancer. While there’s no definitive way to pin down cause and effect, Gwynn said the cancer was located exactly where he placed his chew.

Six years ago, at a congressional hearing in Washington, I demanded that chewing tobacco be banned from baseball. That hearing was followed by multiple letters to MLB and to individual teams asking them to take action to get chewing tobacco out of the game. MLB responded to that request by proposing a ban during the last contract negotiations with the players, but the final agreement fell short.  That’s why on Monday, in letters to MLB and the MLB Players Association, I’ll once again demand that they finally ban chewing tobacco completely from the game.

Some argue that professional players are adults and chewing tobacco is a personal choice. But these players are role models and their behavior and habits are often copied by young players and fans alike.

At the 2010 congressional hearing, Dr. Gregory Connolly of the Harvard School of Public Health testified that “there can be no doubt that public use by MLB players directly contributes to youth smokeless tobacco use in the United States.”

Today, millions of teenagers and young adults in the U.S. use smokeless tobacco.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the use of smokeless tobacco by youth athletes increased from 2001 to 2013. Young athletes are almost 80 percent more likely to use smokeless tobacco products than non-athletes.

These trends will not stop until MLB players stop using chewing tobacco. It’s encouraging to see city governments in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco banning the use of chewing tobacco at ballparks in those cities. Letters posted in every clubhouse during spring training from both MLB and the MLB Players Association explained that players are expected to comply with the new laws.  It’s also encouraging that a number of players have voluntarily stopped chewing.

But it’s not enough.  We need to change the culture of baseball at all levels, and that starts at the major league level.  As Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently said, “like it or not, players are role models, and we have a platform as coaches and players.”

It’s been more than 30 years since players were first banned from smoking cigarettes in uniform and in view of the public. MLB banned chewing tobacco in the minor leagues in the early 1990s, as did the NCAA. Baseball legend Joe Garagiola, who died last month, testified at our 2010 hearing as the longtime chair of the National Spit Tobacco Education Program. He told the committee, “I would like to see the Major League players agree to the terms of the Minor League Tobacco Policy, which bans Club personnel from using and possessing tobacco products in ballparks and during team travel.”

MLB and the MLB Players Association must finally ban the use of smokeless tobacco. It’s time to get chewing tobacco out of baseball for good. That would be a home run for the health of our nation.

Rep. Frank Pallone represents New Jersey’s 6th Congressional District and is the senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns like this, go to the Opinion front page.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/04/03/past-time-mlb-ban-smokeless-tobacco-column/82477512/

ESPN: New York approves smokeless tobacco ban at sporting events

Adam Rubin, ESPN Staff Writer

Smokeless tobacco will soon be off-limits for players and patrons at Citi Field and Yankee Stadium.

The New York City Council approved a ban on smokeless tobacco at ticketed sporting events on Tuesday afternoon by a vote of 44-3. The law is due to take effect immediately once Mayor Bill de Blasio signs the bill, which is expected to be a formality.

“Today we’re taking tobacco out of baseball in New York City,” council member Corey Johnson said. “In New York City we’ve seen smoking rates precipitously decline, but chewing tobacco use has remained steady. When athletes who are role models to children are regularly shown on TV using smokeless tobacco, that sends a harmful message.

“By allowing smokeless tobacco at the ballparks, we are sending mixed signals about the dangers of tobacco use. There may not be many baseball issues where Mets and Yankees fans can agree, but this certainly is one of them.”

Chicago last week joined San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles in enacting a similar ban.

Yankees setup man Andrew Miller said players will not picket over the issue, but he did allude to some players being addicted to the otherwise legal substance, which makes the situation tricky.

“It is what it is,” said Miller, who once chewed tobacco but says he doesn’t anymore. “I didn’t vote on it. I didn’t put it into effect. I didn’t publicly ask one way or the other for it. It is just something we are going to have to deal with. People will have to find a way to approach it and how strictly it will be enforced.”

The penalty in New York is expected to match the fine for smoking where it is prohibited in the city, roughly $100.

“There are different tobacco laws in place for multiple different states — obviously smoking and smokeless,” New York Mets outfielder Curtis Granderson said. “So it’s not something that surprises me if New York or Citi Field were to go ahead and pass something like this. The only question we have is, the guys who do it, how do they know what’s going on?

“The Players’ Association is going to provide alternatives for them. But if a player accidentally chooses to do it, will he get a citation? Will we stop the game? And will the same thing happen to the fans in attendance? That hasn’t been identified yet, so we’re still waiting to hear that.”

ESPN’s Andrew Marchand contributed to this report.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/15045514/new-york-city-approves-smokeless-tobacco-ban-sporting-events

Devils Lake Park Board: Tobacco use policy to be drawn up

The Devils Lake Park Board is one step closer to solidifying guidelines for the use of tobacco products at its outdoor facilities.

By Harry Lipsiea, Devils Lake Journal Reporter

The Devils Lake Park Board is one step closer to solidifying guidelines for the use of tobacco products at its outdoor facilities.

At Monday’s regularly-scheduled meeting, the board voted unanimously to have director Terry Wallace write up a proposed policy and present it to the board for its approval.

Last month, Liz Bonney, Ramsey County Tobacco Prevention Coordinator with Lake Region District Health, brought the idea of a policy to limit areas in which tobacco products could be used at city parks.

The board looked at models currently placed in communities throughout the state of North Dakota. Ultimately, one seemed to jump out to board members as a policy that could fit well in Devils Lake.

“I like what Williston has done with its policy,” board member Kale Stromme stated. “It’s pretty cut and dry specifically when it talks about banning cigarettes in any area where youth are playing.”

The board agreed noting that the policy should include a ban of tobacco products near playground equipment. The board also felt that at baseball and softball diamonds, tobacco will be off limits during youth activities.

The only concern about such a policy was how to enforce the rules.

“There is no way to police the use of tobacco products at the park 100 percent of the time,” Bonney stated.

She pointed out that the policy would inform the public of rules in place. Bonney feels signage, to potentially be provided by Lake Region District Health, would be extremely beneficial.

“I don’t expect anyone to be out there at all times and stop what they are doing if they see someone smoking. That’s not realistic,” Bonney added. “This is a self-policing policy. I think the public will be compliant once they know there are guidelines in place.”

The board then voted for Wallace to form a policy similar to the one in Williston. It is expected to be presented for board approval at a future meeting.

In other business, the park board looked over an initial agreement proposal for the Creel Bay Golf Course. The golf course committee is set meet to go over items on a one-on-one basis later this week.

Also, the newly-added viewing area at the Mike Dosch Memorial Pool has been a hit, manager David Kerlin told the board.

“We have a gotten a lot of positive comments on it,” he stated.

http://www.devilslakejournal.com/article/20150616/NEWS/150619231

TIME: San Francisco Bans Chewing Tobacco at Sports Venues

By Olivia B. Waxman

Effective Jan. 1, 2016

On Friday, San Francisco became the first American city to ban smokeless tobacco—chewing tobacco and “moist inhalable snuff”—at sports venues.

The new ordinance, signed by Mayor Ed Lee, goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2016. Violators will be asked to leave the playing fields (where cigarette and cigar smoking is already banned), the Associated Press reports.

Anti-smoking groups argue that a ban on smokeless tobacco—which has been linked to cancer and nicotine addiction—sends the right message to kids who look up to the players. But San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain said the measure may be hard to enforce, noting that coffee pouches resemble tobacco pouches, according to an article on the team’s website.

The state Assembly is still considering a bill banning tobacco use—electronic cigarettes included—wherever there’s a baseball game, the AP reports.

To read more or watch video: http://time.com/3852742/san-francisco-bans-chewing-tobacco/

Letter to the Editor: Stop glamorizing the role of tobacco in baseball

Chris Hansen, Washington | The Washington Post

Just weeks after the early death of beloved baseball star Tony Gwynn from cancer likely caused by chewing tobacco, and just days after World Series-winning pitcher Curt Schilling told the world he attributes his cancer to years of chewing tobacco, The Post irresponsibly leads an article about the Washington Nationals with the portrayal of chewing tobacco use as a rally-inducing, lucky superstition [“Nationals’ luck runs out against Phillies thanks to stellar performance by Burnett,” Sports, Aug. 27].

To all the young baseball fans who look to The Post each morning to see if their heroes won last night: Tobacco causes those heroes to suffer nicotine addiction, disease and death. Stephen Strasburg recently stated publicly that he is trying to quit using chewing tobacco but that it is very hard to quit. It is time for the team owners and the players association to eliminate tobacco from baseball, and it is time for the media to stop characterizing tobacco as a quaint part of baseball culture.

Instead of inducing winning rallies, tobacco in baseball induces life-shortening defeats — and that is the only coverage it deserves on the sports page of The Post.

The writer is president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/stop-glamorizing-the-role-of-tobacco-in-baseball/2014/08/31/cdd004dc-2e08-11e4-be9e-60cc44c01e7f_story.html

Schilling: Tobacco gave me cancer

Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling revealed Wednesday for the first time the type of cancer he was battling — squamous cell carcinoma, a type of mouth cancer — and detailed the painful treatment and recovery process that caused him to lose 75 pounds.

Telling his story for the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon on Wednesday morning, Schilling said he believes that a 30-year habit of chewing tobacco is what caused the cancer.

“I do believe, without a doubt, unquestionably that chewing was what gave me cancer,” he said. “I’m not going to sit up here from the pedestal and preach about chewing.”
The 47-year-old Schilling said he spent six months in the hospital with a feeding tube, undergoing chemotherapy and painful radiation treatment. During that time, he said, he developed a staph infection and there was a week of his life he doesn’t remember.
“I got chemo and radiation for [seven] weeks, and I came back to my room and my family was sitting there and I thought, ‘You know what, this could be so much worse. This could be one of my kids,'” Schilling said. “I’m the one guy in this family that can handle this. From that perspective, I’ve never said ‘Why me?’ and I never will.”
The most painful part of the treatment, he said, was the radiation, which he received five days per week for seven weeks. Schilling said doctors created a pliable mask to put on his face, an implement the former pitcher said was “the straitjacket for when they are giving you radiation.”
“The first day I went in, they clamped [the mask] down, they do the radiation into the tumors,” Schilling said. “The second day they did it. And about the third day I started developing almost a phobia and I literally had to be medicated for the seven weeks to go and do that. I couldn’t control myself under the mask.”
He added: “If this happened again, I’m not sure if I would go through the treatment again, it was that painful.”
Schilling said he’s lost so much weight because it is still painful to swallow — “I can’t put enough calories in my body” — and he is still shaky and weak at times.
He paused several times during the interview to take sips of water (he says he still does not have any saliva), and his voice sounded different than we’re used to hearing from Schilling. He is currently on leave from his job as an analyst on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast.

“Recovery is a challenge,” Schilling said. “There are so many things that are damaged during the process. I don’t have any salivary glands, I can’t taste anything and I can’t smell anything right now. And there’s no guarantee they’ll come back.”

Schilling reiterated that the cancer was in remission, a statement he tweeted to the world for the first time in June, and that his follow-up care includes doctor visits every 1-2 months and scans every few months to determine if the cancer has returned.

He described how he first discovered the cancer over the winter.

“This all came about from a dog bite,” Schilling explained.

He said the dog bite damaged his finger enough to send him to the doctor. On his way to see the physician, he felt a lump on the left side of his neck and decided to get it checked out with a nearby ear, nose and throat specialist.

“He did a biopsy and two days later he diagnosed me with squamous cell carcinoma,” Schilling said.

It is the same type of cancer former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly is suffering from.

“Commonly this is known as mouth cancer … cancer of the lining of the mouth,” said Schilling’s physician, Dr. Robert Haddad of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. “The lump in the neck is why most patients go to the doctor first because they feel the lump in the neck, that’s the lymph node that’s enlarged.”

This was Schilling’s second public appearance since the cancer diagnosis. In May, he appeared at Fenway Park as the Red Sox celebrated the 2004 World Series-winning team.

“It was weird,” Schilling explained of the appearance. “I was in the hospital at the time. They wouldn’t let me come over [to Fenway] and go back [to the hospital]. So I had to determine if I was OK and ready to be discharged. I said ‘Yeah, yeah, OK.’ And two days later I was back in the hospital. That’s why [my son] Gehrig walked out with me, because I was afraid I was going to fall on the way in because I was so discombobulated.”

He was asked Wednesday why he has stayed out of the spotlight in recent months, choosing only now to talk about it for the first time.

“I didn’t want people feeling sorry for me,” he said. “I didn’t want the pity, I didn’t want any of that stuff.”

Schilling pitched in the majors for 20 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros,Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks and Red Sox. The six-time All-Star finished with a career record of 216-146 and a 3.46 ERA. His 3,116 strikeouts rank 15th all time. He won two World Series titles with the Red Sox and one with the Diamondbacks.

Red Sox manager John Farrell noted how the use of smokeless tobacco is not prohibited on the big-league level, protected by the players’ collective bargaining agreement with Major League Baseball.

“MLB has taken steps to dissuade players from using it through educational programs that are administered to every team,” Farrell said. “It’s even got to the point [in the minor leagues] now where players can be fined if smokeless tobacco is in view of the general public. There have been some of those warnings and penalties levied on some of our players.

“I think we all recognize that it’s addictive and causes cancer. That’s proven. [But] at this time, it’s upon the player to make the conscious decision for himself to use it or not. All we can do is continue educate guys what the ramifications are. … On the heels of the unfortunate passing of Tony Gwynn and what Curt is going through, you would think this would be a current beacon for guys to take note that there’s a price to be paid, if you’re one of the unfortunate ones stricken by cancer.”

http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/_/id/11380584/curt-schilling-former-boston-red-sox-pitcher-says-chewing-tobacco-led-mouth-cancer

PLAYERS MAY CONSIDER TOBACCO BAN DISCUSSION IN '16

By RONALD BLUM, Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Major League Baseball players say they may consider whether to discuss a possible ban on chewing tobacco when they negotiate their next labor contract in two years. For now, they hope individuals decide on their own to stop dipping.

Players’ union head Tony Clark said Monday that several of his members have quit cold turkey following the death of Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn on June 16 from oral cancer.

While the use of smokeless tobacco was banned for players with minor league contacts in 1993, it is permitted for players with major league deals. The labor agreement covering 2012-16 says players may not carry tobacco packages and tins in their back pockets when fans are permitted in ballparks, and they may not use tobacco during pregame and postgame interviews and at team functions.

“I think what we have been doing thus far has been a positive, and although I’m not going to offer you a bargaining proposal today on chewing tobacco, we could have that conversation,” Clark said Tuesday before the All-Star game.

“Then we will see where the guys are and continue the education and their appreciation for or against, or what the many considerations that need to be made in the area even look like, and we’ll have that conversation with Major League Baseball,” he said.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, who plans to retire in January, promised “it will be a subject that they’ll discuss at the next collective bargaining” but acknowledged “I understand that individuals have the right to make their own decisions.”

Gwynn, 54 at his death, attributed his cancer to years of chewing tobacco.

“We believe that the numbers suggest that the usage has declined significantly, declined in the minor leagues, declined in the majors,” Clark said during a question-and-answer session with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. “Our hope is that we continue to educate guys on that the damage that dipping can do, that they will continue to decide not to dip and chew.”

Clark, a former All-Star first baseman who never dipped, said Gwynn’s death “really smacks you between the eyes, and it’s unfortunate sometimes, that an event like that brings that decision instead of that decision being made beforehand.”

No change is planned during the current labor contract.

“We give the players the opportunity to make the decision that they’re going to make against the backdrop of it being legal,” Clark said. “We don’t condone it. They know we don’t condone it. … So at the end of the day, yes, we will continue to educate guys, and yes, the players will continue to have a decision that they make in that area.”

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/players-may-consider-tobacco-ban-discussion-16

Tony Gwynn's death renews call for MLB to ban chewing tobacco

(CNN) – At Tuesday’s All-Star game in Minnesota, it will be hard not to think of Padre great Tony Gwynn.

He was an all star 15 times, a man who lived to play and teach and talk baseball, and a man who died way too early because of a habit associated with it – chewing tobacco, a known cause of cancer.

Now, after more than 100 years, there’s a renewed push to get rid of it on the field.

Gwynn died last month of cancer in his salivary gland, a diagnosis the hall of famer blamed on chewing tobacco.

Baseball great Babe Ruth, also a longtime tobacco chewer, died of oral cancer

Now nine major public health organizations are pushing Major League Baseball to ban all tobacco use by players and staff at games, and on camera, to honor Gwynn’s memory

They sent a letter to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and Players Association chief Tony Clark, calling on them to “set the right example for America’s kids.”

“Kids see their heroes on the field, and they want to emulate and be just like their favorite slugger, or their favorite pitcher,” said Erika Sward, with the American Lung Association.

A June CDC report found that while smoking rates for high school students have fallen by more than half since 1999, smokeless tobacco use by students has held steady.

Groups have been waging this battle over baseball and health for years. Similar letters in 2011 and 2012 pushed the league to act, as did a tobacco-free kids PSA ad.

Selig pushed for a total ban in 2011, but the players union instead called for restrictions, opting to let players keep their habit, as long as it was out of the public’s eye.

The 2011 labor contract bans smokeless tobacco use during TV interviews and club appearances, orders players and staff to hide tobacco products when fans are around, and bans carrying them in their uniforms or on their bodies.

“You can’t go through a three-hour game, and not see players with a big wad of chaw in their jaws,” said Sward. “It’s clear that the 2011 agreement did not go far enough ,and what we really need to have with the agreement starting in 2017 is an end of smokeless tobacco use in general on the field.”

Advocates are hoping that if they build awareness for it, their dream of tobacco free fields comes true.

Read more or watch the video: http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2014/07/15/tony-gwynns-death-renews-call-for-mlb-to-ban-chewing-tobacco/