Brief Facts about Smokeless Tobacco

Brief Facts about Smokeless Tobacco

Smokeless tobacco is tobacco consumed without burning. It is 989 to 99 safer than cigarettes. In India,various types of smokeless tobacco products are used like Chewing tobacco, Jarda, Khaini, Spit Tobacco.These are manufactured by Swadeshi Industry since centuries providing livelihood to millions. Unfortunately,livelihood in this industry is in danger due to dual approach. Most harmful tobacco i.e. cigarettes are favouredand least harmful tobacco like smokeless tobacco is treated harshly. In setting policies, all tobacco productsconsumed without burning are combined into one category called Smokeless Tobacco best turkish tobacco e liquid. Even products likeGutkha / Pan Masala are wrongly perceived as Smokeless Tobacco products. Actually, these areprimarily an Areca Nut based products11 because their principal ingredient (> 80%) is Areca Nut.The scientific basis of tobacco product regulation: report of a WHO study group clearly says

The differences in risks associated with use of different smokeless tobacco products meanthat it would be scientifically inappropriate to consider smokeless tobacco as a singleproduct for the purposes of estimating risk or setting policies12. However, this aspect is completely ignored by policy makers. 13Lie - Smokeless Tobacco contains 28 carcinogenic chemicals -Advocates of Tobacco Control often say this giving reference of InternationalAgency for Research on Cancer (IARC). However, Table given by IARCMonograph on Smokeless Tobacco clearly shows that there are only 11chemical agents in Chewing Tobacco (not 28), for 6 chemicals there isinsufficient evidence available and for 5 chemicals, no evidence is available asregards carcinogenicity in humans. Reality

As per IARC itself, no chemicalagent present in chewing tobacco is found to be carcinogenic in humans. Lie - Almost 2 in 5 deaths among adults in India are caused due to smokeless tobacco15 - News in a prominent daily said this giving reference of WHO Global Report - Attributable to Tobacco. The said report however does not mention this anywhere, and this news is completely misleading. 2 in 5 means 40%, whereas title of the news itself says Smokeless tobacco claims lives of 17% of 30 plus adults. Further, even 17% is incorrect. Reality - Page 182 of this report16 clearly says that proportion of deaths attributable to tobacco is 7%. Here tobacco means smoking as well as smokeless tobacco. This booklet will explain further how smoking related deaths are more than 95% of tobacco related deaths in India.Lie - Deaths due to tobacco are equivalent to 10 packed jumbo jetscrashing every day or 10 Tsunamis hitting Indian shores every year17

Advocates of tobacco control describe tobacco related deaths in India as 20jumbo jets crashing every day. This figure is derived assuming 10 lac deaths inIndia due to tobacco and dividing 10 lac by 365 days. However GATS (GlobalAdult Tobacco Survey India) report has mentioned that smoking causes 9.30lac adult deaths in India18.Reality - This means 93% of tobacco related deaths in India are due tosmoking. This booklet will explain further how smoking related deaths aremuch more than 9.30 lacs. 3 4. Smokeless Tobacco is less harmful Because it is not burnt Extracts from ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL PATHOLOGY written by - Dr. Robert E. Marx 19 (DDS) & Dr. Diane Stern (DDS) University of Miami, School of Medicine, Miami, Florida"In order for electrophilic intermediates that damage DNA or becomebound to DNA to be generated from tobacco products, the tobacco mustbe combusted (smoked). Thus, these epoxides of tobacco tars, notnicotine, are the actual DNA-damaging agents (i.e. carcinogens)""Nicotine is the addictive agent and is not by itself carcinogenic.Therefore, because these epoxides are not formed in "smokeless"tobacco, such tobacco products are not significantlycarcinogenic and, despite the claims of several organizations, do notproduce a higher incidence of oral squamous cell carcinoma than thatwhich spontaneously occurs in the nonsmoking, nonusers ofsmokeless tobacco population""However, 9% of all squamous cell carcinomas in our major cancercenter occurred in individuals with no direct tobacco history, indicatingthat "smokeless tobacco" history is coincidental rather thancausative" But based on high prevalence, smokeless tobacco is regulated.

Tobacco control policies in India are framed considering prevalence and ignoring which type of tobacco is causing real harm. In their appeal, advocates of tobacco control mention combined harmcaused by all types of tobacco (smoking as well as smokeless) grape e liquid. However their appeal is restricted to 20ban on smokeless tobacco . As per GATS India 2009-2010 report 18 9.30 lac Smoking related deaths in India 21 Smokeless tobacco is more prevalent than smoking in India What should be banned? More harmful smoking or More prevalent smokeless Is it not injustice to focus on prevalence instead of harm?


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9 Jun 2015

 
 
 
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