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The Nation’s Number One Killer

Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, claiming over 430,000 lives every year.  That represents more deaths than aids, alcohol, illegal drugs, car accidents, murders, suicides, and fires combined.  Nicotine is the addictive drug found in tobacco products.  When someone becomes addicted to cigarettes or spit tobacco it is due to their chemical dependence on nicotine, a drug considered to be as addictive as heroine and cocaine. 

The Truth About Secondhand Smoke

Secondhand smoke alone is known to be harmful to human health.  The following facts provide evidence of the true dangers of secondhand smoke.  For more information, visit www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/secondhandsmoke/

• Secondhand smoke, also called Involuntary Smoking, Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS), or Passive Smoke, is a combination of the smoke in the air from a burning cigarette, cigar, or pipe (side stream smoke) and the smoke exhaled by a person smoking (main stream smoke).
   
• Secondhand smoke causes an estimated 53,000 deaths annually in the United States alone, including 3,000 lung cancer deaths, more than 2,000 SIDS deaths and more than 35,000 deaths from coronary heart disease.
   
• Just thirty minutes of exposure to secondhand smoke can compromise the cardiovascular system of nonsmokers by reducing blood flow to the heart.
   
• Secondhand smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, including arsenic, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide and radioactive elements. More than 60 of these chemicals have been identified as carcinogens.
   
• Secondhand Smoke has been identified as a Group A carcinogen (cancer-causing substance) like asbestos by the Environmental Protection Agency. There is no safe level of exposure to Group A carcinogens.
   
• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Toxicology Program identified secondhand smoke as a carcinogen in their 2000 Environmental Health Information Service 9th Report on Carcinogens.
   
• Research shows that smoke-filled rooms may have up to six times the air pollution of a busy highway.
   
• Accordingly, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 300,000 children under 1-1/2 years of age get bronchitis or pneumonia from breathing secondhand tobacco smoke, resulting is as many as 15,000 hospitalizations.

Spit Tobacco – Smokeless does not mean Harmless

For more information on the dangers of spit tobacco log onto www.throughwithchew.com

Wyoming adult males use spit tobacco at a rate that is almost double the national average. 14.8 percent chew compared to 8 percent nationally (BRFSS, 2003).

In Wyoming, 21.1 percent of high school-aged male students report using smokeless tobacco, compared to 9.4 percent for males nationally.  That's more than DOUBLE the national average (YRBS, 2003; CDC Highlights, 2001).

Wyoming has the third highest rate for female youth spit tobacco use at 5%, behind only South Dakota and Montana (YRBS, 2003; retrievable at www.uwyo.edu/wysac Final Trends Report, pg. 121).

Smokeless tobacco is associated with oral cancers, tooth and gum disease and cardiovascular disease.  At least 28 cancer-causing chemicals have been identified in smokeless tobacco products.  This product typically contains sand and grit that can wear down your teeth (American Dental Association at www.ada.org retrieved August 10, 2005).

Smokeless tobacco users are up to 50 times more likely to get oral cancer than non-users (S.T.O.P. Guide, 1997; Hatsukami, D. & H Severson, Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 1999).

The estimated portion of tobacco advertising for Wyoming marketing last year was 43.9 Million dollars (www.tobaccofreekids.org); retrieved August 10, 2005).

Spit tobacco is not a safe alternative to smoking. One out of every five deaths in Wyoming is tobacco related.  Oral cancer is a deadly form of cancer. One in three cases of diagnosed oral cancer results in death (Oregon Research Institute; Vital Statistics).

Oral cancer kills quickly.  The early signs of oral cancer most frequently appear at the site where spit tobacco is held in the mouth.  Leukoplakia, a white, leathery like patch forms in the mouth at this site and is considered pre-cancerous.  Other early warning signs which merit a visit to the dentist or physician include a sore that bleeds easily and does not heal, a lump anywhere in the mouth or neck, or trouble chewing, swallowing, or moving the tongue or jaw (Spit tobacco- It Is No Game; American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 2002).

The Wyoming Department of Health offers two free services to help you quit: The Wyoming Quit Tobacco Program at (800) QUIT-NOW, a program providing free or reduced cost Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) as well as a phone-based counseling service, or the Wyoming Quitnet at http://wy.quitnet.com, a web-based quit tobacco service.