Snuff isn't a safe alternative to cigarettes, speakers at the National Smokeless & Spit Tobacco Summit said Tuesday.
Smokeless tobacco, including long-leaf chewing tobacco and the ground variety, causes oral and pancreatic cancers, gum disease and tooth loss.
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Long-term users are nearly 50 percent more likely to have cancers of the cheeks and gums than nonusers, according to the American Legacy Foundation, a conference sponsor that promotes rejecting and stopping tobacco use.
The conference, through Thursday morning, is at the Cox Convention Center.
Organizer Andy Fosmire of the Northwest Oklahoma Area Health Education Center in Enid said smokeless tobacco is "an emerging issue nationally” for health professionals.
"The only safe alternative is to be tobacco-free,” he said.
Smokeless tobacco is the only segment of the domestic tobacco market that is growing, he said.
"It used to be something your grandfather may do,” said Doug Matheny, who oversees tobacco prevention for the state Health Department.
He said being tobacco-free goes beyond not smoking.
"There has been a lot of talk, I think, about the dangers of smokeless tobacco in our state,” he said.
Fifty-five percent of Oklahoma public school students attend schools that are tobacco-free, he said, and 123 school districts in the state have tobacco-free policies.
However, Oklahomans still exceed the national average in smokeless tobacco use.
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"Enlighten" is not what I would call those who vote to deny other's freedoms based on propaganda composed of lies, half-truths and innuendo, which is what this "conference" was and how smoking is slowly being outlawed by bigots.
Its a *conference*. Vitriolic snipe only proves a weak arguement. Jefferson also said, "Enlighten the people, generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like spirits at the dawn of day." It was a *conference* about a legal, but unhealthy product. Put Chicken Little back in the coop and get over it. When they start to pass legislation, then start your revolution, charge North Lincoln with a Zippo and a cuspidor. (It outta be a good show.) Besides, Jefferson was a health nut..."Walking is the best possible exercise."...and he wrote his own bible...dang, how cool is that...?!!?
These holier-than-thou bigots will not be satisfied until they have converted everyone to their religion; the religion of no free choice. It is apparently time for the revolution Jefferson was talking about when he stated: "Every generation needs a new revolution."
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He also stated "A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." and is being proved right by the anti-tobacco hypocrites today.
•6.3 percent of middle school boys currently use spit tobacco
•20.3 percent of high school boys currently use spit tobacco •9 percent of middle school girls have tried spit tobacco.
•12.8 percent of high school girls have tried spit tobacco.
Source: State Health Department
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Leave a comment. Log in below or sign up (it's free).Editor's note: It is not our intent to offer comments on crime or fatality stories.
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He also stated "A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." and is being proved right by the anti-tobacco hypocrites today.