Canada: Ontario Should Ban Flavoured Smokeless Tobacco Targeted at Youth

Source from:  Toronto (Ont) Star (ca)  03/13/2013

Many kids are using flavoured chewing tobacco without realizing its potentially terrible consequences.

It's that time of year again, when two long-awaited seasons coincide: the (early) signs of spring and the beginning of baseball. And nothing heralds the Earth's shift toward the sun better than major league players, catching fly balls in the warmth of Florida, with little cans of Skoal chewing tobacco hidden nearby. Ah, baseball traditions. Too bad some are disfiguring and deadly.

For teenage players who idolize the men of summer, nothing is cooler than "chewing a plug." Despite MLB efforts to limit the exposure of players with a lip full of chew, too many kids are still buying little cans of multi-flavoured leaves ("dip") or bags of tobacco plugs (chew.) They come loaded with cancer-causing nitrosamines, not to mention a touch of that old toxic chemical, lead. It's the stuff of tragedy.

Too bad for the kids, as a 2012 Public Health Agency of Canada report noted, that most believe "smokeless tobacco" is healthier than cigarettes. And that's a shame, considering the same report said that 4 per cent — a small but worrisome number — of Ontario kids between grades six and 12 say they've tried chewing tobacco. That rises to as high as 50 per cent among young male athletes, according to a Manitoba study.
 
It's a failure of the public health system. The same officials who were so opposed to smoking seem nonchalant about the effects of chewing tobacco. While the overall number of kids using smokeless tobacco isn't high, the health impacts are too great to ignore. Youth, parents and coaches (hockey and baseball) must be made aware that chewing can eventually lead to disfigurement or death from oral cancer.
 
Unfortunately, Ontario has ignored requests for action. Last May, NDP health critic France Gélinas introduced a private member's bill banning flavoured smokeless tobacco. "If you take out the flavours, it tastes like, well, tobacco — terrible," Gélinas says.

It's an innovative approach to block tobacco companies from targeting kids with new products, now that smoking has become less glam. Gelinas says the Ontario Ministry of Health showed little interest in her bill, which ultimately died when the government was prorogued last fall.
 
Health Minister Deb Matthews should support Gélinas' next bill when she introduces it again this spring. Public awareness campaigns with baseball and hockey organizations would also make a difference.

Otherwise parents probably won't know what their kid is up to until observing their dark-stained teeth. So much for those $8,000 orthodontist bills. And that's just the superficial stuff. The first signs of potential for oral cancer are hidden, just white patches inside the cheeks. For some, the spots appear quickly. Others won't see the impact until their 30s or 40s, when they turn to lesions.

The worst cases, mostly adults, go to Dr. Ralph Gilbert, a head and neck surgeon and reconstructive specialist at Toronto's University Health Network. Gilbert believes kids need to understand that oral cancer comes with "big issues," such as the removal and reconstruction of a large portion of the mouth, followed by radiation and chemotherapy. "You can imagine the impact of that treatment on your quality of life," he says.

It's a sobering thought, but there's no better time to start talking about it than the beginning of baseball season. Enditem