UP TO SNUFF

The propaganda issuing forth from the agenda of anti-smoking crusaders is bad enough, but the bunkum unleashed by the anti-smokeless tobacco police is even worse. Fear mongerers, armed with posters depicting teenagers with holes in their throats, invade our schools evangelizing on the evils of smokeless tobacco. But a look at the findings of oral cancer studies show that this “evil” is virtually nonexistent. Data in these hard-to-find studies show clearly that the health risk associated with smokeless tobacco use is dramatically lower than the risk posed by smoking. So, rather than relying on rhetoric promulgated by the politically motivated, I did a little digging and unearthed the following statistical nuggets: Per 100,000 users of smokeless tobacco, an estimated 26 will develop oral cancer annually, compared to about 6 for the general population. The average remaining life expectancy of a 35 year-old nonuser of tobacco is 46.96 years. The average remaining life expectancy of a 35 year-old user of smokeless tobacco 15 DAYS less than 46.96 years. A retrospective study of 200,000 male snuff dippers in Sweden found only one case of oral cancer per year. The medical journal Cancer, published by the American Cancer Society, reported that there is no association of smokeless tobacco use with mouth cancer in Sweden, despite its widespread use by 15% of Swedish men. West Virginia, which has the highest rate of snuff use in the country, has an oral cancer incidence no higher than the average for the general population. Crazy, huh? All I can say to the anti-snuff nannies is: Ptooey!!! SOURCE: For Smokers Only

North Country