Posts

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/

 

Faces of the Boom: Smoke shop angles for return customers

By Amy Dalrymple, Forum Communications
ALEXANDER, N.D. – New Yorker Phil Hamda came to North Dakota to scout for real estate opportunities, but his plans changed after paying nearly $8 for a pack of cigarettes in Williston.

Hamda, whose father owned tobacco shops in New York City, noticed that tobacco prices in the Bakken varied widely.

“In New York, if you don’t like the prices, there’s a store right next door,” Hamda said.

Instead of trying to develop housing, Hamda took lessons he learned from his father and opened the Tobacco Depot in Alexander in February. He says his niche is fair, consistent prices that earn him repeat customers.

“Everybody’s nuts about our prices,” Hamda said. “We’re not extortionists.”

He initially struggled to find retail space and planned to operate from a trailer in Watford City. But when that location didn’t work out, he discovered a space for rent along the heavily traveled U.S. Highway 85 in Alexander, between Williston and Watford City.

“You couldn’t ask for better visibility than this,” Hamda said as a steady stream of oilfield traffic goes by his shop.

The North Dakota Department of Transportation is constructing a bypass that will take Highway 85 traffic around Alexander. Hamda said he expects the bypass will actually help his business because the traffic is often so heavy that customers can’t get into his parking lot.

“A lot of guys say they’ve been trying to get in here for a week,” Hamda said.

Hamda said he wasn’t prepared for the demand for electronic cigarettes and personal vaporizers. They account for about half of his business, primarily because smoking isn’t allowed on many oilfield locations and housing camps where workers live, Hamda said. He also sells a lot of chewing tobacco and cigarettes by the carton.

Hamda, who spent 20 years self-employed as a contractor, was in the middle of developing two six-unit condominium buildings in Jersey City, N.J., when the recession hit. He still wants to finish the buildings, and his success in North Dakota will help him do that.

He plans to sell the buildings once they’re complete and make North Dakota his home.

“After I’m done with them, I’m bringing that money here,” said Hamda, who has plans to expand his tobacco business. “There’s plenty of opportunity out here and I think it’s safe to invest.”

http://www.inforum.com/content/faces-boom-smoke-shop-angles-return-customers-0

Further Review: Hey, baseball, time to quit the spit

By Steve Hummer

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tony Gwynn, hitter nonpareil, died in mid-June of the kind of cancer that should have sent a chill through every clubhouse in baseball. A member of the dip-and-spit set when he played, Gwynn suffered salivary gland cancer. He was only 54 at his death.
In a story looking at baseball’s and the Braves’ reaction to Gwynn’s death — to appear in Sunday’s print edition of the AJC, as well as on myajc.com — it was necessary to include the disclaimer that there was no precise science connecting Gwynn’s cancer to his past use of smokeless tobacco.
But, c’mon, a little common sense here. Gwynn had said the cancer begin very near the area of his mouth where he once loaded his dip. He blamed his fate on his tobacco use. Even without the seal of definitive medical proof, that should be good enough for the third of baseball that still spews foul brown juice.
The use of chewing and dipping tobacco has been a stain on baseball, literally, since forever. Trying it is a rite of passage for every young player — the nausea and the dizziness that the first-timer experiences, that’s just all good fun. Staying with it is a sort of concession, a player admitting he can figure no better way to spend his many idle hours than to stuff a caustic weed in his mouth and spit it out one dirty dribble at a time.
And once they get hooked, good luck trying to get off the nicotine dragon.
An athlete faces so many risks that he or she is powerless to avoid. Each sport takes its own kind of toll on joint and organ. Why in the name of Nike — the winged goddess of victory, not the shoe — would anyone willingly add to the potential harm by taking up such a frivolous, filthy habit?
Not as many in baseball use the stuff now as 20 years ago. And some have been forced to a reckoning by the news of last month. Braves closer Craig Kimbrel for one seemed genuinely motivated to quit his dipping when the season is done.
But I fear too many players will put off the hard work of quitting until the season passes, gradually set aside the lesson of this summer and stay with the slow, comfortable slide that smokeless tobacco provides. Then it will be just the same ol’ spit from there.
Gwynn’s legacy deserves so much more than that.
http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/further-review-hey-baseball-time-to-quit-the-spit/ngYZ5/

Increasing popularity of smokeless tobacco poses cancer risk to young men

By , FoxNews.com

Though rates of cigarette smoking in America continue to decline, smokeless tobacco use remains popular, especially among young men — and with potentially dangerous health consequences.

A recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that the use of smokeless tobacco among workers in the U.S. has held steady since 2005 – with rates of smokeless tobacco use being highest among males ages 25 – 44.

“In recent years there have been declines in cigarette smoking, but there’s really other tobacco products making up a large proportion of tobacco use in certain populations,” Brian King, scientific advisor at the CDC’s office of smoking and health, and lead author of the study, told FoxNews.com.
The dangers of smokeless tobacco use recently entered the national spotlight after the death of baseball hall-of-fame player Tony Gwynn, who died of salivary gland cancer after spending years dipping tobacco on the field.
According to the CDC, more than 30,000 people in the U.S are diagnosed with oral cancer every year. And every year, over 8,000 die of the disease, which has only a 50 percent five-year survival rate. A 2008 study from the World Health Organization indicated that smokeless tobacco users have an 80 percent greater chance of developing oral cancer than a non-user.
“Smokeless tobacco is a proven cause of oral cancer, including of the lips, throat and lining of the cheeks,” King said. “…With combustible tobacco the primary cancer is lung because people are inhaling, but with smokeless use, it’s primarily in the oral region, [which is] why we’re seeing a lot of cancers associated with smokeless tobacco around the oral cavity.”
In addition to being deadly, oral cancers often have devastating effects on a person’s appearance, as surgeries to remove cancerous lesions often require removal of portions of the face. Smokeless tobacco has also been associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer and heart disease.
The CDC’s study utilized data from the National Health Interview Survey to compare rates of smokeless tobacco use in 2005 and 2010. In 2005, 2.7 percent of U.S. workers admitted to using smokeless tobacco, compared to 3 percent in 2010.

“In terms of major findings, it primarily is that we haven’t seen any change, so that is concerning to us because obviously we’d like to see it decline over time,” King said. “So that finding is potentially a useful tool to inform strategies to start to address all forms of tobacco use, not just cigarette smoking.”
Another recent study by the CDC indicated that 2.6 percent of the population uses smokeless tobacco on some days, or every day, while 9.6 percent admitted ever having used these products, according to data from the 2012-2013 National Adult Tobacco Survey.

King said a lack of research on the effects of smokeless tobacco, combined with fewer public health initiatives geared towards this form of tobacco use, may be contributing to the steady use of these products in the U.S.
“A lot of campaigns and interventions have focused on combustible tobacco, and smoke-free policies have proliferated,” King said. “But all forms of smokeless tobacco use are really permitted in a lot of areas.”
Furthermore, loopholes in laws regulating cigarette use allow smokeless tobacco to be more accessible – and cheaper to the majority of the population.
“Cigarettes are taxed pretty uniformly in every state, but in most cases smokeless tobacco is taxed considerably lower than cigarettes in most states,” King said. “And we know increasing price is the single most effective way to reduce consumption, so the fact that these are available cheaper obviously increases the potential for people to use them.”
As the CDC continues to monitor the growing landscape of nicotine and tobacco products, they also have an eye on new products coming to the marketplace – including spit-less smokeless tobacco, tobacco sticks, orbs and strips and tobacco products featuring kid-friendly flavors.
While evidence is still emerging on the ill effects of smokeless tobacco, and how to curb its use, one thing is certain: quitting will benefit your health.
“Given the adverse health effects associated with smokeless tobacco, quitting is beneficial and since we know there’s no safe form of tobacco, if you were to quit completely that would considerably improve your health and potential for future disease and death,” King said. “There are a lot of evidence-based treatments to help people quit, and those are same as for cigarettes. The FDA has also approved seven medications including nicotine replacement therapy, and those can be used for smokeless tobacco as well.”

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/07/02/smokeless-tobacco-rates-remain-steady-in-us-as-cigarette-use-declines/

Increasing popularity of smokeless tobacco poses cancer risk to young men

By , FOXNews.com

Though rates of cigarette smoking in America continue to decline, smokeless tobacco use remains popular, especially among young men — and with potentially dangerous health consequences.

A recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that the use of smokeless tobacco among workers in the U.S. has held steady since 2005 – with rates of smokeless tobacco use being highest among males ages 25 – 44.

“In recent years there have been declines in cigarette smoking, but there’s really other tobacco products making up a large proportion of tobacco use in certain populations,” Brian King, scientific advisor at the CDC’s office of smoking and health, and lead author of the study, told FoxNews.com.
The dangers of smokeless tobacco use recently entered the national spotlight after the death of baseball hall-of-fame player Tony Gwynn, who died of salivary gland cancer after spending years dipping tobacco on the field.
According to the CDC, more than 30,000 people in the U.S are diagnosed with oral cancer every year. And every year, over 8,000 die of the disease, which has only a 50 percent five-year survival rate. A 2008 study from the World Health Organization indicated that smokeless tobacco users have an 80 percent greater chance of developing oral cancer than a non-user.
“Smokeless tobacco is a proven cause of oral cancer, including of the lips, throat and lining of the cheeks,” King said. “…With combustible tobacco the primary cancer is lung because people are inhaling, but with smokeless use, it’s primarily in the oral region, [which is] why we’re seeing a lot of cancers associated with smokeless tobacco around the oral cavity.”
In addition to being deadly, oral cancers often have devastating effects on a person’s appearance, as surgeries to remove cancerous lesions often require removal of portions of the face. Smokeless tobacco has also been associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer and heart disease.
The CDC’s study utilized data from the National Health Interview Survey to compare rates of smokeless tobacco use in 2005 and 2010. In 2005, 2.7 percent of U.S. workers admitted to using smokeless tobacco, compared to 3 percent in 2010.

“In terms of major findings, it primarily is that we haven’t seen any change, so that is concerning to us because obviously we’d like to see it decline over time,” King said. “So that finding is potentially a useful tool to inform strategies to start to address all forms of tobacco use, not just cigarette smoking.”
Another recent study by the CDC indicated that 2.6 percent of the population uses smokeless tobacco on some days, or every day, while 9.6 percent admitted ever having used these products, according to data from the 2012-2013 National Adult Tobacco Survey.

King said a lack of research on the effects of smokeless tobacco, combined with fewer public health initiatives geared towards this form of tobacco use, may be contributing to the steady use of these products in the U.S.
“A lot of campaigns and interventions have focused on combustible tobacco, and smoke-free policies have proliferated,” King said. “But all forms of smokeless tobacco use are really permitted in a lot of areas.”
Furthermore, loopholes in laws regulating cigarette use allow smokeless tobacco to be more accessible – and cheaper to the majority of the population.
“Cigarettes are taxed pretty uniformly in every state, but in most cases smokeless tobacco is taxed considerably lower than cigarettes in most states,” King said. “And we know increasing price is the single most effective way to reduce consumption, so the fact that these are available cheaper obviously increases the potential for people to use them.”
As the CDC continues to monitor the growing landscape of nicotine and tobacco products, they also have an eye on new products coming to the marketplace – including spit-less smokeless tobacco, tobacco sticks, orbs and strips and tobacco products featuring kid-friendly flavors.
While evidence is still emerging on the ill effects of smokeless tobacco, and how to curb its use, one thing is certain: quitting will benefit your health.
“Given the adverse health effects associated with smokeless tobacco, quitting is beneficial and since we know there’s no safe form of tobacco, if you were to quit completely that would considerably improve your health and potential for future disease and death,” King said. “There are a lot of evidence-based treatments to help people quit, and those are same as for cigarettes. The FDA has also approved seven medications including nicotine replacement therapy, and those can be used for smokeless tobacco as well.”

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/07/02/smokeless-tobacco-rates-remain-steady-in-us-as-cigarette-use-declines/

Quitting Smokeless Tobacco May Boost Survival After Heart Attack

HealthDay

MONDAY, June 23, 2014 (HealthDay News) — A new study suggests that heart attack patients who stop using snus — a specific type of moist chewing tobacco that is popular in Sweden — could greatly reduce their risk of dying within a couple years.
The findings don’t directly prove that stopping the use of this type of smokeless tobacco actually affects cardiac health, and ethical constraints may prevent researchers from ever understanding the full value of quitting. There are other caveats, and it’s not clear that quitting the main kinds of smokeless tobacco used in the United States would have the same potential effect.
Still, the study “indicates that quitting snus use after a heart attack might be as equally beneficial as quitting smoking after a heart attack,” said study author Dr. Gabriel Arefalk, a cardiologist at Uppsala University Hospital in Uppsala, Sweden.

The health risks of smokeless tobacco have been in the news over the past week because of the death of baseball legend Tony Gwynn at the age of 54. Gwynn blamed his initial salivary gland cancer on a long history of chewing tobacco, although doctors say there’s no definitive link between that kind of tobacco and that type of cancer.
It’s clear, however, that smokeless tobacco poses major risks to health and causes other kinds of cancer.
Smokeless tobacco comes in a variety of forms, including traditional chewing tobacco (which may come in loose leaves or “plugs”) and snuff (finely cut or powdered tobacco), according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute. The new study examines snus (rhymes with “moose”), a kind of moist snuff that doesn’t need to be spit out because users typically swallow the tobacco juices.
“Snus is very different from American chewing tobacco such as Red Man or American moist snuff such as Skoal or Copenhagen,” explained Dr. John Spangler, a professor of family and community medicine and psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine. “Snus is pasteurized by steam, while American smokeless tobacco is cured in a heated environment over time. Curing generates more cancer-causing agents, so some tobacco experts argue that snus is safer and want tobacco companies to be able to market snus as safer.”
Snus is especially popular in Sweden, where 20 percent of adult men and 3 percent of adult women use it.
The researchers tracked almost 2,500 snus users, mostly men, who were younger than 75 and had heart attacks between 2005 and 2009. Only about one-fourth — 675 — quit using snus, while the rest continued.
Fourteen of those who quit and 69 of those who continued to use snus died over an average of about two years. Those who quit were about half as likely to die as those who continued using the smokeless tobacco, after researchers adjusted their statistics so they wouldn’t be thrown off by high or low numbers of people of certain ages or genders.
What’s going on? Researchers aren’t sure. Those who quit using smokeless tobacco could simply be healthier overall or they might have started taking better care of themselves, although the researchers tried to account for this possibility. Those who kept using snus were also more likely to have diabetes.
The researchers speculate that something about snus — possibly the nicotine — hurts the heart, perhaps by making it more vulnerable to damage from irregular heartbeats.
The findings may reveal little if anything about the smokeless tobacco that’s used in the United States, even the snus that’s sold here. “There are snus-type products available in the U.S. market currently, but the American products are manufactured and sold differently than Swedish snus, and there are no studies on the health effects of products sold in the U.S. labeled ‘snus,'” said Dr. Pamela Ling, an associate professor with the University of California, San Francisco’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.

However, “smokeless tobacco use of all types is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, so the results of this study on snus probably also apply to other forms of smokeless tobacco,” she said. “Patients with heart attacks should be encouraged to quit all forms of tobacco, both cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.”

The study appears online June 23 and in the July 22 print issue of the journal Circulation.

More information

Visit the U.S. National Cancer Institute for more on smokeless tobacco.

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2014/06/23/quitting-smokeless-tobacco-may-boost-survival-after-heart-attack

Tobacco use still high in college ball, off field

USA Today

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Virginia pitcher Josh Sborz slips a pinch of chewing tobacco between his cheek and gum every now and then, even though the NCAA banned the substance 20 years ago,

“I enjoy the taste. It’s not like I’m addicted to it,” Sborz said. “I just enjoy it, definitely. I do it maybe once a month or every other week.”

Sborz said this week’s death of Hall of Fame baseball player Tony Gwynn might give college players some pause. Gwynn died at 54 of oral cancer believed to be connected to his long use of chewing tobacco.

“It should have an impact when such a star-studded player’s life was ended by the addiction he had. It’s sad,” Sborz said.

Whether Gwynn’s death has any real impact is an open question and it comes amid some concerns: Baseball players acknowledging using spit tobacco at least once in the previous month rose from 42.5 percent in 2005 to 52.3 percent in 2009, according to the NCAA’s quadrennial survey substance use trends among its athletes. Results of the 2013 survey have not yet been released, though preliminary results suggest a drop since 2009.

About 15 percent of teams in each NCAA sport are asked to participate in the anonymous survey, with a total sample size of about 20,000 athletes. Among all male athletes, 16 percent acknowledged using tobacco in 2005 and 17 percent in 2009.
Sborz said he thinks the survey is “skewed” when it comes to ball players.
“All those people don’t do it every day,” he said. “If people do it every day, that’s where it becomes a problem. If they do it once every week, I don’t see any issue with it.”
Minor-league baseball banned tobacco in 1993, a year before the NCAA. Tobacco is not banned in the major leagues.
Though tins of tobacco aren’t visible in college dugouts like they were before 1994, that doesn’t mean players aren’t dipping when they’re away from the ballpark.
“It’s 100 percent part of baseball culture,” said Virginia second baseman Branden Cogswell, who estimated half his teammates chew tobacco at least occasionally. “It’s kind of a habit for people, kind of a comfort thing. I’ve never been a part of that group, but so many guys do it. People take those risks. It’s their choice.”
Dave Keilitz, executive director of the American Baseball Coaches Association, said he was surprised to find out so many baseball players were using tobacco.
“I think most of our coaches, if not all of our coaches, are very aware of the danger and also don’t want their players using it,” Keilitz said. “In my 20 years of doing this, I haven’t seen any evidence of that taking place in dugouts, in games. I hope the same holds true in practice sessions.”
Keilitz said his organization adamantly opposes the use of smokeless tobacco and participated in the making of a video that illustrates the dangers.
Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said he chewed during his playing days in the late 1980s and early ’90s. Like Keilitz, he was surprised so many players acknowledge using tobacco.
“If kids are doing it, they’re doing a heck of a job of hiding it,” he said.

The NCAA said the ban was put in place as part of its charge to protect the safety and welfare of athletes. The penalty for violating the ban was left to the committee that oversees each sport. The Baseball Rules Committee instructed umpires to eject any player or coach who is using tobacco or who has tobacco in his possession. Enforcement was spotty until the committee made it a point of emphasis in 2003.

In spite of the warnings the players receive, Texas coach Augie Garrido said he knows some members of his team chew tobacco.

“There’s a lot more of it in Texas,” he said, “because it’s not only about the baseball. It’s about hunting, it’s about fishing, it’s about being a man.”

As for Sborz, he started chewing for a simple reason.

“I saw an older kid do it, so I thought I’d try to do it,” he said.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/baseball/2014/06/20/tobacco-use-still-high-in-college-ball-off-field/11121159/

As baseball ponders tobacco issue, Tony Gwynn to get his say

Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY Sports

OAKLAND – Tony Gwynn’s multitude of accomplishments, career batting average of .338 and his pioneering use of video earned him the rapt attention of players whenever he talked baseball.

Major League Baseball hopes an even more important message he’s delivering posthumously sinks in as well.

Gwynn, who died of mouth cancer Monday at 54, speaks out against smokeless tobacco use in a taped segment of an informational video MLB is producing and plans to release this season. The Hall of Fame outfielder believed he developed cancer because of his years-long habit of using spit tobacco, although that was never medically confirmed.

Whether Gwynn’s untimely death and his stance against smokeless tobacco will curtail its use among players remains an open question.

Research by the Pro Baseball Athletic Trainers Society revealed the number of major leaguers who use spit tobacco has declined from about 50% to 33% in the last 20 years.
However, that’s still about 10 times the amount in the general population, according to the American Cancer Society, whose data from 2012 showed 3.5% of Americans 12 and older – or 9 million – use the highly addictive product.
“It’s definitely ingrained and something that’s part of our baseball culture, but it’s not exclusive to baseball,” said Oakland Athletics first baseman Brandon Moss, a non-user. “You would hope a figure like (Gwynn), something tragic like that happening, would be a wake-up call for everyone, not just those in baseball. … But most guys are probably going to look at it as the loss of a great man and a great baseball player and leave it at that.”
Indeed, the stance among players seems to be that they’re aware of the dangers but, like smoking, it’s up to every individual to decide whether to use what remains a legal product.

The National Cancer Institute says in its website that smokeless tobacco contains at least 28 chemicals that have been found to cause cancer – typically of the mouth, esophagus and pancreas – and may also lead to heart disease, gum disease and oral lesions.

“People understand the risks involved and still choose to do it,” Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. “We all do stupid things, whatever your vice happens to be. People may criticize these guys for dipping, and then somebody’s texting and driving.”

And while Gwynn’s passing was lamented throughout the game, it doesn’t figure to be interpreted by many players – who are usually in their 20s or early 30s, with the concomitant sense of invincibility – as a cautionary tale.

“It’s one of those things that’s scary and obviously you hope you’re not the one,” said A’s catcher Stephen Vogt, who said he dips once in a while. “I don’t think it’s good. I definitely don’t advocate it, but at the same time, it’s an adult decision.”

Baseball has taken steps to sway that decision, or at least make the practice less visible to minimize the impact on young fans.

The current collective bargaining agreement, in effect from 2012-16, bans players, managers and coaches from using smokeless tobacco during TV interviews and team appearances. And they have to keep tobacco products out of sight while fans are at the ballpark.
In addition, MLB and the players union have stepped up educational efforts, and teams – which in the past freely distributed cans of dip in the clubhouse – can no longer do so and are now required to administer oral exams as part of the spring training physicals every year.
Longtime TV announcer Joe Garagiola, who quit his smokeless tobacco habit in his 30s, made it his life’s mission to warn other baseball folks about its dangers, making presentations during spring training alongside former major league outfielder Billy Tuttle, who died of oral cancer at 69 in 1998.
“I don’t think we talk about it enough anymore,” says Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. “I remember as a young A-ball manager, Joe Garagiola would always come around in spring training with Bill Tuttle. It was scary.
“And I still see people chewing tobacco. Not only in the big leagues, but you still see kids in junior high and high school.
For me, it’s not enough yet. It’s a shame.”

Indeed, the sight of players constantly spitting, some sporting a large wad of tobacco inside their cheek, remains one of the game’s enduring images.

“Every spring training we have a guy that comes in who’s had mouth cancer through tobacco,” Rangers utilityman Donnie Murphy said. “So you see it. But at the same time, it’s like an addiction thing. You do it for so long, you’re going to want to keep doing it.”

Players say using smokeless tobacco provides a form of relaxation and becomes part of their routine in a daily sport with lots of down time.

And with amphetamines now banned from baseball, the jolt of energy from the nicotine in the tobacco – absorbed during a longer stretch through dip or chew than by smoking – can help players navigate the season’s six-month grind.

Commissioner Bud Selig has expressed a desire to banish smokeless tobacco from the majors the same way MLB barred it from the minors starting in 1993. But the issue is subject to collective bargaining and the players association has declined, opting to protect personal freedoms and emphasize education.

“The MLBPA discourages the use of smokeless tobacco products by its members or by anyone else. These products carry serious health risks, yet remain legally and widely available,” union spokesman Greg Bouris said via e-mail. “In general terms, included in the smokeless tobacco policy negotiated in 2011 are restrictions/prohibitions on its use, increased emphasis on education and cessation programs, as well as oral examinations. At this point in time, player education continues to be a focus of ours.”

Contributing: Paul White in Washington

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2014/06/19/mlb-tobacco-tony-gwynn/10937253/

Teen Smoking Is Way Down. But What About E-cigs?

Alexandra Sifferlin, Time Magazine
Rates of cigarette smoking among high school students has dropped to lowest level in 22 years, the CDC reports.
In 2013, the smoking rate among high school students hit 15.7%, which means the U.S. government has already reached its goal of lowing the teen smoking rate to 16% of less by 2020. That’s according to the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which began in 1991. Another important data set on teen smoking and drug use—Monitoring the Future (MTF)—reports the rate is at 16.3%. Regardless, both surveys show fewer kids are smoking.
That’s good news, and it’s likely thanks to a combination of several factors, the most important being the rising costs of cigarettes. Others include the growing stigmatization of smoking, with half of states prohibiting smoking in places like bars and restaurants. The adult smoking rate is dropping too, which means teens have fewer smoking role models.
If teens are passing around fewer packs of cigarettes, does that mean they’re not smoking other things? Past data has shown a 123% increase in the consumption of other smokable tobacco products like cigars and pipes, though the recent numbers from the larger data sets show no change in smokeless tobacco use since 1999, and a drop in cigar use.
yrbs_release_smoking_final-copy
One question you’re likely going to see is whether teens are switching to e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes is a subject the public health community is uncharacteristically split on. On one side of the spectrum, you have critics arguing that it’s possible e-cigarettes serve as a gateway to regular cigarettes. One vocal critic being the head of the CDC himself. “The increased use of e-cigarettes by teens is deeply troubling,” said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden in a statement about teen tobacco use going down. “Nicotine is a highly addictive drug. Many teens who start with e-cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine and conventional cigarettes.”
Emerging data points to certain trends, but e-cigs are still so new. Earlier this fall, a CDC report showed that e-cig use among teens, while still low, had doubled in a year, from 3.3% in 2011 to 6.8% in 2012.
Dr. Kenneth Warner, a professor of health management and policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, looked back through the data and found that among kids who have never smoked a conventional cigarette, only 0.7% have ever tried an e-cigarette within the last 30 days. What this shows is that the same kids who are smoking regular cigarettes are smoking e-cigs.
“Everyone thinks they are right and the logical thing is that nobody knows,” says Warner. “This is a huge-stakes issue, because the proliferation of e-cigs has the potential to either reduce the cigarette problem or increase it over time among kids.”
The reality is we have a long way to go. It took 40 years to get the adult smoking rate down to around 20%, and it won’t be easy to cut it in half again. Warner and his colleague David Mendez have created a smoking-prevalence model that’s been used since the 1990s. Their predictions show that at the rate we are going, we might not be able to hit a 10% adult smoking rate until the middle of the century. But that’s if we don’t try anything radically different.
“I believe we will do better because I don’t think we’ll stick with just status quo tobacco control,” says Warner. “In my judgment, the future lies in how effectively FDA can regulate cigarettes and other [nicotine] products.”
The FDA announced it is expanding its regulatory powers to cover more tobacco products including e-cigs, but anti-smoking advocates are arguing it’s still not enough.
“The data on kids is great, but we have a long way to go before we can pack up and go home and say we solved the problem,” says Warner.
You can read more on the latest CDC numbers here.
http://time.com/2864214/teen-smoking-is-way-down-but-what-about-e-cigs/

Navy mulls banning tobacco sales on all bases, ships

By Karen Jowers , Staff writer / AIR FORCE TIMES
The Navy is on the verge of eliminating tobacco sales on all its bases and ships, according to sources inside and outside the Defense Department.
Officials are reportedly considering removing tobacco from all sales venues, to include any exchange-operated retail outlets, as well as MWR-operated retail outlets where cigarettes may be sold. Commissaries on Navy bases currently do not sell tobacco products.
The decision would be made at the service’s highest levels. Navy officials have been gathering information on the impacts of such a decision, one source said, to include the inevitable drop in profits for the Navy Exchange Service Command — which would reduce the flow of dividends that help fund morale, welfare and recreation programs on installations.
Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Sarah Flaherty confirmed Monday that there have been discussions about tobacco sales, but said that no decision has been made.
Cmdr. Tamara Lawrence, a spokeswoman for Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, said in a written statement that “maximizing the readiness” of sailors and Marines has been a priority for Mabus since he took office.
Mabus “has implemented a number of initiatives to improve the culture of fitness in the Navy and Marine Corps, and curbing tobacco use is part of that improvement,” Lawrence said.
A source familiar with the military resale industry said that if the Navy pushes ahead on banning tobacco sales on its ships and bases, the idea likely would spread to the other services.
Tobacco products are legal, although by law they cannot be sold to minors. But smoking is a leading cause of premature death and disease in the U.S.; according to the American Cancer Society, more than 43 million people in America still smoke and tobacco will cause an estimated 480,000 deaths in 2014.
“We know that policies that restrict access to tobacco products, reduce exposure to tobacco advertising, and limit places that people smoke have a direct effect on reduced smoking rates, especially among youth,” wrote John R. Seffrin, CEO of the American Cancer Society, in a statement issued in February after CVS Caremark announced that its nationwide chain of more than 7,800 pharmacies would stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products by Oct. 1.
CVS officials said their decision to stop selling tobacco products was consistent with the positions of the American Medical Association, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, American Lung Association and American Pharmacists Association, all of whom have opposed tobacco sales in retail outlets in pharmacies.
The Navy has taken other steps to promote smoking cessation and discourage tobacco sales, starting with eliminating sales in its commissaries, then eliminating discounts on tobacco prices in Navy and Marine Corps exchanges in 2012.
“Tobacco use is the most avoidable public health hazard in the Navy and Marine Corps,” Mabus wrote in a March, 2, 2012, memo announcing that tobacco products offered in Navy and Marine Corps exchanges would no longer be sold at a discount. At that time, about one-third of sailors and Marines personnel used some form of tobacco, Mabus said.
In the same memo, he said that nicotine replacement therapy products approved by the Food and Drug Administration would be supplied for free to service members aboard all ships, base clinics and pharmacies and battalion aid stations.
In her statement Monday, Lawrence said Mabus “has asked his staff to look at additional ways to improve the health and readiness of our force. We are in the early stages of that process.”
Although her statement made reference to Marines and the Marine Corps, which is part of the Department of the Navy, Military Times could not immediately confirm Monday evening whether the Navy’s discussions about a possible total tobacco ban also would affect Marine Corps bases.