|
Snuffing
safer than smoking - it's official
Snuffing is much safer than smoking, says a Ministry
of Health commissioned report on modified smokeless tobacco released last
week. Government now has a duty to inform smokers accordingly. Switching
to snuff could also reduce tobacco costs for current smokers, especially
if the snuff tax was reduced 90 percent in line with its reduced risk,
says SmokeLess New Zealand chair Dr Murray
Laugesen. “Every can of snuff bought is two packets of cigarettes
not sold and so can help reduce smoking.”
SmokeLess wants Government to lower the
tax on snuff in the Budget in six weeks time. Currently all tobacco is
taxed at 36 cents per gram, whereas snuff tax should be 3 cents a gram.
Snuff stops the urge to smoke within ten minutes, and is 10 to 20 times
less dangerous than smoking. Snuff can save the health system millions of
dollars and save thousands of lives, Dr Laugesen says.
“Smokers
smoke for nicotine, but they die from the smoke. Snuff gives smokers the
same amount of nicotine as found in cigarette smoke, without having to
inhale any smoke.”
Quitting tobacco entirely will always be the best
option, but to the many smokers not willing to quit tobacco on
the one hand, nor wanting to die of smoking either, health workers can
now say that snuff, while not completely risk free, is much less risky
than smoking.
Smokers need to see snuff and nicotine on sale wherever cigarettes are sold. If the price was
right, many smokers would try snuff, he said.
Nasal snuff was expected to be test marketed through
tobacconists within three weeks. It can be legally sold to adults in New Zealand, but not advertised.
Although the report from the New Zealand Health Technology
Assessment Group was about Swedish oral snuff, placed behind the upper
lip, nasal snuff and oral snuff were both finely ground tobaccos with the
same chemical composition.
The report showed that Swedish-type snuffs do not
cause cancer.
Due to previous fears of cancer risk, the sale of oral
snuff is currently banned, but it can be ordered by internet at $15 a can,
tax included, lasting about two days –cheaper than smoking
factory-made but more expensive than smoking hand-rolled cigarettes.
Tobacco snuffs are addictive, and some cardiovascular risk may attach to
their use, but the risk was much less than the risk of smoking, Dr
Laugesen said.
The Census proportion of ex-smokers in the population
has not increased in the past ten years, and at this rate, without better
product choices and new thinking, it will take another century to phase out
smoking and lung cancer, said Dr Laugesen.
Broadstock M. Systematic review of the
health effects of modified tobacco products. http://nzhta.chmeds.ac.nz/publications/smokeless_tobacco.pdf (129pp)
|
