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| CV Risk Seen With Smokeless Tobacco |
| Posted by bigman01 on 2009/8/25 12:01:32 (492 reads) |
CV Risk Seen With Smokeless Tobacco | By Nancy Walsh, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today
Published: August 24, 2009
Reviewed by Dori F. Zaleznik, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston and
Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner |
| The use of smokeless tobacco products was associated with an increased risk for fatal myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke, a meta-analysis found. For fatal MI, the relative risk associated with ever having used these products was 1.13 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.21), according to Paolo Boffetta, MD, and Kurt Straif, MD, PhD, of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France. And the overall relative risk for fatal stroke was 1.40 (95% CI 1.28 to 1.54), the researchers reported online in the BMJ. The use of oral and nasal smokeless tobacco products such as snuff and chewing tobacco has increased in recent decades, particularly among people younger than 40, based on claims of less health risk than smoking. Recently, North American and Scandinavian researchers found an increased risk of oropharyngeal and prostate cancers. But smokeless tobacco does pose potential health risks related to MI and stroke, possibly because of increases in blood pressure and heart rate, as well as associations with diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and obesity, according to the investigators. "Determining the role of smokeless tobacco in cardiovascular diseases is important," they wrote, "given the high incidence and mortality from these diseases." They therefore undertook a systematic review that included 11 studies, eight from Sweden and three from the U.S. Eight were prospective cohort studies, three were population-based case-control studies, and nine included only subjects who had never smoked tobacco. Most included only men. Among the nine studies that estimated risk for any MI, the risk associated with ever having used smokeless tobacco was 0.99 (95% CI 0.89 to 1.10). The lack of association with any MI included both current and former users, and when the analysis was restricted to cohort studies the relative risk for any MI was 1.04 (95% CI 0.95 to 1.14). Among the eight studies estimating risk for fatal MI, the excess risk was present only for current, not former, smokeless tobaccouse. Based on six risk estimates, the overall risk of any stroke was 1.19 (95% CI 0.97 to 1.47), with increased risk being seen only for current use. In the sole study that investigated risk according to duration or frequency of use, no significant trend was seen for fatal stroke, but the relative risk was higher among those with a long history of use. And in the single study that reported stroke risk by type of event, the relative risk was higher for fatal ischemic stroke (RR 1.63, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.62) than for fatal hemorrhagic stroke (RR 1.05, 95% CI 0.61 to 1.80). The risks for fatal MI and stroke were seen in studies both from the U.S. and Sweden. The proportion of deaths from MI that was attributable to smokeless tobacco products was 0.5% in the U.S. and 5.6% in Sweden, while the corresponding numbers for stroke were 1.7% and 5.4%. The researchers noted potential sources of bias such as the inclusion of case-control studies, confounding by active smoking, and misclassification of users, but they found no strong evidence for effects of bias. "If the association is real, its public health and clinical implications might be substantial, despite the fact that the magnitude of the excess risk is small," they wrote. Further research should attempt to determine how smokeless tobacco products affect the cardiovascular system and to investigate further if risk is also elevated for nonfatal events. The study received no funding and the investigators declared no competing interests. | |
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| DIY cigarettes? Some smokers start growing tobacco |
| Posted by bigman01 on 2009/8/24 7:40:25 (0 reads) |
DIY cigarettes? Some smokers start growing tobacco By STEVE SZKOTAK (AP) – 4 days ago RICHMOND, Va. — Something unusual is cropping up alongside the tomatoes, eggplant and okra in Scott Byars' vegetable garden — the elephantine leaves of 30 tobacco plants. Driven largely by ever-rising tobacco prices, he's among a growing number of smokers who have turned to their green thumbs to cultivate tobacco plants to blend their own cigarettes, cigars and chew. Byars normally pays $5 for a five-pack of cigars and $3 for a tin of snuff; the seed cost him $9. "I want to get to where I don't have to go to the store and buy tobacco, but I'll just be able to supply my own from one year to the next," Byars said. In urban lots and on rural acres, smokers and smokeless tobacco users are planting Virginia Gold, Goose Creek Red, Yellow Twist Bud and dozens of other tobacco varieties. Although most people still buy from big tobacco, the movement took off in April when the tax on cigarettes went up 62 cents to $1.01 a pack. Large tax increases were also imposed on other tobacco products, and tobacco companies upped prices even more to compensate for lost sales. Some seed suppliers have reported a tenfold increase in sales as some of the country's 43.3 million smokers look for a cheaper way to get their nicotine fix in a down economy. Cigarettes cost an average of $4.35 a pack, home growers can make that amount for about 30 cents. It's the latest do-it-yourself movement as others repair their own cars, swap used clothes and cancel yard work services to save money. "Cigarette smokers say, 'Yeah, we're going to die of cancer, but do we have to die of poverty as well?'" said Jack Basharan, who operates The Tobacco Seed Co. Ltd. in Essex, England. Virtually all of his increased tobacco seed sales have been in the U.S., he said. Provided the tobacco isn't sold or traded, the Food and Drug Administration doesn't regulate homegrown tobacco. Most people grow for cigarettes, but some blend their own cigars and chew. The FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture don't keep statistics on home growers, though seed suppliers and Internet buzz suggest strong interest. Seedman.com has sold more than 100,000 packets of tobacco seeds this year, compared with 22,000 in all of 2008, president Jim Johnson said. The Gautier, Miss.-based company offers 40 varieties of tobacco from around the globe and packages various flavor blends for first-time growers. A grower who purchased one of Johnson's Oriental and Turkish blends for $24.50 could satisfy a pack-a-day habit for more than three years, according to Johnson's calculations. However, growing and processing tobacco can challenge even the best gardeners. The nearly microscopic seeds must initially be grown inside and transplanted after the threat of frost has passed. The plants are susceptible to an army of pests; must be topped, or pruned, to encourage leaf growth; require rotating every few years; and require the proper chemical soil balance. The leaves must be cut and hung to dry. A seed started in March can be ready to smoke as soon as October. Some anxious growers have been known to microwave leaves to hasten the drying. For purists, the leaves can be cured, or aged, like a fine wine for up to three years. "It's actually very labor intensive," said Ed Baker, general manager of Cross Creek Seed Inc. in Raeford, N.C., the No. 1 tobacco seed supplier in the U.S. "There's a reason why cigarette companies make all that money. If it was that easy, everyone would be growing their own tobacco." Cross Creek has seen a big increase in seed requests from home growers but it sells in volume. It's smallest seed offering is 90,000 seeds for $170. Novices and veterans can find smoker-friendly havens like howtogrowtobacco.com, a Web site that offers growing and curing tips, often including angry posts over ever-increasing taxes and smoking restrictions. Many would not discuss their crops with The Associated Press, fearful a high profile would invite government scrutiny and taxes. Others proudly share stories and post photos. Arthur Skora, 42, records his success growing and curing in Greenwood, Wis., on a how-to DVD he sells online. "Most of the people who are ordering are just getting fed up with prices and basically they're not going to take it anymore," Skora said. Saving money wasn't the only motivation for Matt Schoell-Schafer, a landscape architect in Kansas City, who has 50 plants growing in his urban garden. "It's not being a victim to their manipulation of this product," said Schoell-Schafer, 34, who enjoys an occasional cigar or cigarette. "So I'm sort of liberating myself by growing it myself." Some growers contend their tobacco concoctions are safer than commercial products, which have a stew of additives ranging from colorings and oils to ammonia. "The quick answer to that is no," said Thomas Glynn, director of cancer science and trends at the American Cancer Society. Glynn knew of only one study of the health risks of homegrown and commercial blends — and it concluded no difference in safety between the two. Homegrown tobacco can also contain fungus and mold, which can cause chronic bronchitis and other ailments, Glynn said. Philip Morris USA, the nation's No. 1 cigarette maker, and other big companies are unlikely to shudder. Philip Gorham, a tobacco industry analyst with the investment research firm Morningstar, said he had no data on smokers who switched to homegrown. But he doesn't see it as a mass movement. "It's one thing to switch from a premium brand to a discount one. It's quite another to switch from buying a manufactured product to roll your own," Gorham said. At VirtualSeeds.com, Joyce Moore said she typically sold tobacco seeds as ornamental plants to gardeners who appreciated their elephantine leaves. This year, her Astoria, Ore.-based company was overwhelmed by orders from tobacco users slammed by "the market collapse, the recession, then getting hit with exorbitant tobacco taxes." Moore doesn't use tobacco herself but has no misgivings about her business. "If I sold doughnuts in a bakery would I feel guilty because fat people come in and buy them?" she asked. "It just happens to be a very good year for tobacco seeds." Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Article Source |
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| Reynolds May Introduce Camel Snuff to Go After Altria |
| Posted by bigman01 on 2009/7/30 23:14:05 (607 reads) |
Reynolds May Introduce Camel Snuff to Go After Altria July 29 (Bloomberg) -- Reynolds American Inc. may expand its Camel cigarette brand into snuff to take customers from Altria Group Inc., the head of Reynolds’ smokeless-tobacco division said in an interview. In a test in Florida and Colorado, Reynolds is offering its new Camel Dip snuff to distributors for the same price its bigger competitor charges for Skoal and Copenhagen, said Bryan Stockdale, chief executive officer of Reynolds’ Conwood unit. A national expansion of Camel Dip may help the company reverse declining market share in higher-priced snuff, he said. Reynolds and Altria, the country’s two largest tobacco companies, are going after the snuff market to counter shrinking cigarette demand. Altria’s UST division cut the price of Skoal and Copenhagen March 29, spurring Reynolds to lower prices of its more-expensive Kodiak brand in a move that hurt second- quarter profit. Camel’s share of U.S. smokers was unchanged at 7.5 percent in the period, the Winston-Salem, North Carolina- based company said July 23. “We’re stretching the brand to figure out whether or not you can take a well-known cigarette trademark and expand it into this category,” Stockdale, 51, said July 27 in his first interview since taking charge of Conwood in February. “There’s a whole lot of early-on feedback that says we may have something that’s got some legs to it.” Altria won’t comment on Camel Dip, David Sylvia, a spokesman for the Richmond, Virginia-based company, said in an e-mail. Kodiak, Grizzly Grizzly and Kodiak are Reynolds’ top-selling smokeless tobacco brands. It also makes tobacco twists, Levi Garrett chewing tobacco and Tube Rose snuff, according to Conwood’s Web site. Altria’s UST division sells Red Seal and Husky snuff in addition to Skoal and Copenhagen. Reynolds is testing its Camel version of moist snuff as part of an effort to boost sales of higher-priced products. While the Kodiak brand generates lower sales than less-expensive Grizzly, it’s about twice as profitable, Stockdale said. Price reductions on Skoal and Copenhagen may eventually spur growth of higher-priced snuff, creating a need for Reynolds to establish a brand stronger than Kodiak, Thilo Wrede, an analyst at Credit Suisse, said yesterday in a telephone interview from New York. Aggressive Promotions “The challenge for them is to convince consumers to try the product,” Wrede said. Conwood may need to offer aggressive promotions, he said. He rates Reynolds as “neutral” and Altria as “outperform.” Camel Dip’s Wintergreen Wide Cut variety comes in a metal can and contains tobacco that has longer-lasting flavor and is cut wider than other snuff, making it easier to pack in the mouth, Stockdale said. “If you can stabilize Kodiak and establish Camel, then you have growing premium and growing Grizzly,” said Stockdale, a 30-year Reynolds veteran and former senior vice president of marketing operations for the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. cigarette division. “Camel showing the ability to grow in the moist segment is a big deal.” Reynolds rose 74 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $43.31 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have advanced 7.4 percent this year, compared with Altria’s 17 percent gain. Reynolds lowered the price of Kodiak by 72 cents a can April 1, following the move by Altria to decrease distributors’ list price of Skoal and Copenhagen by 62 cents a can. The price reductions on those two brands haven’t slowed Grizzly’s growth, Stockdale said. Reynolds has introduced four new varieties of Grizzly since last year, he said. Retailers in Colorado are selling a 1.2-ounce (34-gram) can of Camel Dip for about $4.65, said David Howard, a Reynolds spokesman. Altria’s Copenhagen sold for a U.S. average of $4.16 a tin in June, the company said last week. Reynolds’ Grizzly brand sold for about $2.75 a can in the second quarter, Howard said. The company started selling Camel Dip in Florida and Colorado in late June. It hasn’t set a timetable for the test or possible expansion, Stockdale said. To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Burritt in Greensboro, North Carolina, at 1348 or cburritt@bloomberg.net Last Updated: July 29, 2009 16:16 EDT |
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| Marine who lost leg returns to combat in Iraq |
| Posted by bigman01 on 2008/4/16 0:25:25 (1581 reads) |
Marine who lost leg returns to combat in IraqSniper’s bullet destroyed gunnery sergeant’s knee, but not his will to serveBy Mike Celizic TODAYShow.com contributor updated 7:59 a.m. CT, Thurs., April. 10, 2008 If you’ve ever wondered what the Marines have in mind when they advertise for “a few good men,” look no further than Gunnery Sgt. William “Spanky” Gibson. Two years ago, he lost a leg to a sniper’s bullet in Iraq. Today, he’s back in the combat zone — by his own choice. If you notice an unusual spring in his step as he goes about his duties at Camp Fallujah in Iraq, mark it down to the wonders of the modern technology that went into the carbon-fiber prosthetic leg Gibson wears. He may have surrendered a leg in serving his country, but he’s far from handicapped. "As soon as a person says disabled, and they think they're disabled, they might as well keep their butt in a chair and not do anything the rest of their life,” the 37-year-old career Marine said in a story reported for TODAY by NBC News correspondent Ned Colt in Iraq. As he goes about his duties for the 1st Marine Expeditionary force as a weapons coordinator in operations command, Gibson is an inspiration to his fellow soldiers and even to the commander in chief. "When Americans like Spanky Gibson serve on our side, the enemy in Iraq doesn't got a chance,” President Bush said in a recent appearance in the Pentagon to mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. In May 2006, Gibson was on foot patrol in Ramadi in Iraq when a sniper’s bullet tore through his left knee. “Basically, the bullet disintegrated my kneecap, completely,” he said. Being a Marine, his first instinct wasn’t to call for help but to try to get back up and return to the fight. That was impossible with the damage his knee had sustained. Besides the damage to the bone and connective tissue, the bullet that hit him also severed a major nerve and his femoral artery. In the hospital, doctors tried to save his leg, but Gibson knew it wasn’t going to heal. “Every day I’d beg the surgeons — I'd beg ’em, ‘Just cut it off, close me up. Get me out of here,’ ” he said, actually laughing at the memory. Within two months of being wounded, Gibson, who makes his home in Pryor, Okla., with his wife and young daughter, was back at work at Camp Lejeune, N.C. As he learned to navigate on his new leg, he dove back into sports, relearning how to ski and run. Encouraged by his progress, he started training for triathlons and last year completed the “Escape from Alcatraz” race, which included a swim from the legendary prison island in San Francisco Bay to the mainland. Marine Gen. James Mathis was at the swim and while congratulating Gibson for his achievement, asked him if there was anything he could do for the 19-year Marine veteran. Just one thing, said Gibson — get him back to Iraq. Just two other soldiers have returned to Iraq after amputations, and navigating bureaucratic hurdles wasn’t easy, but with friends like Mathis on his side, Gibson got his wish in February, deploying to his backline job in Fallujah just 21 months after he was wounded. To Gibson, there wasn’t any question about going back. “It's my life,” he said. “It's what I love. For me at least, being a Marine means being prepared to go into conflict.” On the base, he’s an inspiration to other Marines, who see what he’s done and find it easier to shoulder their own loads. “You may be down sometimes, but you look at him and say, ‘This is what it's all about,’ ” said Master Sgt. Solomon Reed. “It's inspirational to the Marines." Gibson sees it as just doing his job. He’s seen progress in Iraq in the past two years and compares where that country is to where the United States was when it set out on the road to independence. “This is where we were 232 years ago as a new nation,” he once said. “Now they're starting a new nation, and that's one of my big reasons for coming back here.” Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24029144 |
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| MLB: Chewing Tobacco Problem? |
| Posted by bigman01 on 2008/4/15 5:02:33 (1027 reads) |
MLB: Chewing Tobacco Problem? Watch one entire game of Major League Baseball and you will most likely see at least one player with a “dip” in their mouth. Major leaguers either use dip tobacco, chewing tobacco, or just constantly spit all the time. Baseball has a high usage of smokeless tobacco amongst their players. It has been estimated that 33 percent of the players in the MLB use chewing tobacco. Tobacco has been synonymous with baseball for a very long time. Baseball is an outdoor sport that requires a lot of physical fitness. So many baseball players choose to chew tobacco rather than smoke it, in order to stay physically fit. Not to mention, there are plenty of open places to spit while outside. In fact, Babe Ruth died from throat cancer possibly linked to chewing tobacco in 1948. As children and young people watch these games, they most likely either ask their parents or friends what is in their mouth. Some may already know that it’s tobacco. These children will see their favorite players do it and think that chewing tobacco is cool. Young people are especially impressionable during their pre-teen and teenage years. This is also the time of their lives that they are most likely to first try chewing tobacco. There are even some myths about chewing tobacco among teenagers and young people. Some popular myths are that chewing tobacco makes someone play better, or that tobacco is cool because the professionals do it. So when these adolescents enter into high school, they will most likely try tobacco because they have seen their favorite professional athletes do it. On Wednesday April 9, 2008, I went to the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins game. At this game, I saw a perfect example of the chewing problem in the MLB. It was the ninth inning and I was bored because the Sox were losing by seven runs, so I decided to walk around and stand by the White Sox bullpen. In the front row, behind the bullpen, were a group of high school boys that were yelling to the Sox closer Bobby Jenks. “Hey Bobby, what are you dipping?” They yelled at the top of their lungs. The young men didn’t mention anything about his pitching game; they were only interested in his favorite tobacco flavor. Jenks pulled his tin out of his back pocket and whipped it up to the front row. Three of the boys fought over it and finally one came away with the tin. He gave all of his friends high fives, and everyone was excited for him. This is an example how much people look up to their favorite athletes, and even their bad habits. So what do you think? Should chewing tobacco be banned for MLB players in order to prevent young people from trying it? Or is it not a big deal that they use smokeless tobacco? Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/17 ... B-Chewing-Tobacco-Problem-# |
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| 4-16-2004 Launch! |
| Posted by SMAdmin on 2004/4/16 20:54:45 (726 reads) |
Welcome!
Although this site is functional, a few graphical bugs still exsists. Despite these, I have deceided to launch today! This site isn't a "hoax" or some "clone". This is a tribute to "The King" of dip sites, Spike Molson's. A chain of unfortunate events led to the crash of SMPOST, I have taken it apon myself to try and build up my PHP skills while at the same time doing something constructive. A couple days and a little work and here it is! Hope you guys can help and contribute!  |
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