New snuff marketing makes W.Va. spittin' mad
By David Templeton
"The Winston-Salem, N.C., tobacco company is testing Camel Snus in Morgantown and Charleston with plans to market it nationwide early next year as a product that can be used where smoking is prohibited.
The product is designed to be placed between the upper lip and gum....which health officials say are designed to lure a new generation -- college-age adults and women, in particular -- into addictive tobacco habits.
'Here in West Virginia, 4,000 people die every year from tobacco-related illness,' said Bruce Adkins, director of the Division of Tobacco Prevention in the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health. 'So, to break even, the tobacco companies have to have 4,000 replacement users each year.'"
- CDC: 19.8% of U.S. adults smoke -- the lowest percentage in 80 years.
- 27% of West Virginians still smoke.
- WV has the nation's highest percentage of users of spit tobacco, including chewing tobacco and snuff.
"Officials say smokeless products can cause oral, esophageal and gastric cancers. A study in Sweden also said smokeless tobacco doubles the risk of pancreatic cancer.
David Howard, R.J. Reynolds spokesman, said claims that the company spiked the products with high levels of nicotine 'couldn't be further from the truth.'
Snus, he said, has a nicotine level lower than most other smokeless products. He also said the company has been test-marketing the product coast-to-coast with plans to go nationwide with the product early next year."
(Read the whole article at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08325/929386-114.stm)
I'm proud to be from West Virginia and to have never used tobacco. I'm dismayed that the state that raised me has been targeted by the tobacco industry. In any of its various forms, it is a tenacious addiction, and one of the biggest threats to public health. I hope the test-marketing flops...though I imagine RJ Reynolds has it designed to succeed no matter what.
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