Daily HealthBeat Tip - October 10, 2007

Thinking twice about smokeless

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

People who think smokeless tobacco is safer than cigarettes should think again. Researchers who checked for one cancer-causing chemical, called NNK, found evidence that oral snuff users had even higher levels of the chemical than smokers had.

Stephen Hecht of the University of Minnesota Cancer Center did the work, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health. His findings were in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

Hecht says tobacco that’s supposed to go between the gum and the cheek should go into the trash, just like cigarettes.

``Smokeless tobacco is not a good substitute for cigarette smoking. Smokeless tobacco still contains dangerous levels of carcinogens.’’ (10 seconds)

Hecht says people should not use smokeless or cigarettes.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May, 26 2008