Smokeless tobacco is not a viable way to skirt smoking laws

Leave it to a tobacco company to try to maintain a deadly grip on its customer base.

Reynolds American Inc. recently launched an advertising campaign for Camel Snus, a smokeless brand of chewing tobacco. The premise behind the campaign apparently is an effort to skirt antismoking laws that are becoming more prevalent in the country, and especially in New York City.

A report in the Wall Street Journal notes a wider effort by Reynolds to counteract declines in cigarette consumption in the United States. The Journal also reported that U.S. cigarette consumption has been declining at a rate of almost 4 percent nationally in terms of volume while smokeless tobacco use has been increasing almost 7 percent annually.

A Reynolds American executive has said potential for long-term growth for the product is good and said many users are in their 20s.

Young people, be warned. According to reports posted on the website of the Mayo Clinic, the long-term use of chewing tobacco and other smokeless tobacco products can cause serious health problems.

The Mayo Clinic stresses that those who use smokeless tobacco are very likely to become addicted. Too, there is a real risk of cancer of the esophagus, mouth, throat, cheek, gums, lips and tongue. These types of cancer can be life-threatening, and surgery to remove cancer from these areas can leave patients disfigured.

Anti-smoking laws have many health-related merits. We know of people who have simply quit smoking in the months since South Dakota enacted its sweeping law late last year.

Hopefully, more people will consider dropping the habit altogether, rather than simply switching to an equally risky form of tobacco.

Smokeless tobacco isn’t the answer.