Company Under Fire Over Tobacco Lollipops

Source from:  ABC Action News Tampa Bay 06/01/2009

"I got my first can of Camel Snus." Actually this YouTuber's joking--he's demonstrating Snus. Tea-bags, filled with mint-flavored tobacco. They fit neatly between your teeth and gum. "I can't smoke a pipe in class or work but I can sure put one of these in. It's convenient." There's also no need to "spit." The tobacco stays in the bag. Tobacco companies say Snus has become so popular, they're taking the next step, totally dissolvable tobacco. For traditional smokers, it will solve all kinds of problems. "They don't have second hand smoke. They don't have a litter problem. The product actually dissolves in your mouth as opposed to having to spit or extract something like a patch from your mouth like other smokeless products," says Tommy Payne of R.J. Reynolds. R.J. Reynolds will soon test three new products: Camel Sticks, that dissolve as you suck 'em. Minty Tobacco Strips, that look like breath strips and Orbs which are lavored dissolvable tablets, that some say look and taste like candy. And there's the thing. Critics say R.J. Reynolds is doing what it did with Joe Camel---marketing not to adult smokers---but smoker wanna-bes. "Really what you're doing with kids actually, it's kind of like a gateway drug," says Dan Smith of the American Cancer Society. "You're getting them addicted to nicotine, which then leads them to possibly wanting to do other things." According to the Indiana Poison Control Center--just one Camel dissolveable delivers up to 300 percent of the nicotine found in just one cigarette. Take too many and nictotine poisoning might set in and you could possibly develop oral cancer. "They're not candy," says Payne. "They're tobacco products." R.J Reynolds says their new "dissolvables" have warning labels. It's illegal for kids to buy them. And, yeah, they're not completely safe but they're for adults. "It's just when compared to smoking and the impact that it has on our society these products at least should be made available for those who can't or won't quit," says Payne. Enditem