Feature: Tobacco Debate Heats Up As Cigarette Makers Look To Smokeless Products

Source from:  AHN 02/23/2009

Miami, FL (AHN) - U.S. cigarette companies, dogged by indoor smoking bans sweeping the country and ever-increasing taxes on their products, are looking toward smokeless tobacco as an alternative to make up for lagging sales of smokes. About 20 percent of the U.S. still smokes, and the percentage is higher in many other parts of the world, so selling cigarettes promises to stay a lucrative business for some time. Nevertheless, RJ Reynolds, the maker of top selling brands like Camel, and the Altria Group, which makes Marlboro and other big brands, are selling a type of smokeless tobacco in the United States that is traditionally consumed in Sweden. Snus is a similar type of tobacco to brands like Kodiak and Copenhagen used by Americans, but there are a few key differences. American tobacco is placed between the bottom lip and gum. Like snus, it is available in either small tea bag-like pouches or loose. But snus is placed between the upper lip and gum, and unlike American smokeless tobacco, using snus doesn't require the consumer to spit. The most controversial claim about snus -- one not made by U.S. cigarette companies for fear of promoting health benefits of a tobacco product -- is that it is safer than cigarettes and other forms of smokelss tobacco. Snus is made by steam-curing, rather than fire-curing, the tobacco, so it contains much lower levels of carcinogens than cigarettes and other types of smokeless tobacco. More than 20 percent of Swedish men use snus, and the country has the highest rate of smokeless tobacco use in the workd, yet it has the lowest rate of tobacco-related illnesses, like lung and oral cancer. This has led to the debate in the U.S. and Europe to whether snus should be used by those who can't kick their smoking habits as sort of a "harm reduction" method to getting their nicotine fix, rather than use the "quit or die" approach. Heather Grzelka, director of media relations for the American Lung Association says not so fast. Her organization and other health groups in the Unites States, are trying to get Congress to pass legislation that would require the Food and Drug Administration to regulate all tobacco products. The move is supported by President Barack Obama. "Until then, no health claims can be made about tobacco products in the Unites States," she said. But like it or not, snus is coming to a convenience store near you. David Howard, a spokesman for RJ Reynolds, says his company has been selling Camel Snus in test markets across the U.S. since April 2006, and the product has been behind store counters in all major markets since January. "Our company started to evolve from a cigarette company to a total tobacco company," Howard said. He made no health claims about snus, or any of the other smokeless and "spitless" tobacco products RJ Reynolds plans to sell. Like in Sweden, snus is kept in refrigerated cases behind clerks in convenience stores. So far there has been no advertising, and few people know it's available. But word of mouth has led to slow, but steady sales in some stores. "I wouldn't say we sell it on a daily basis, but definitely every other day we sell some," said Sherri Munoz, a clerk at a Circle K in Key Largo, Fla. Howard said RJ Reynolds will publish a series of print ads about Camel Snus in national magazines like Sports Illustrated, Car and Driver, Rolling Stone and People. Enditem