|
Nicotine
·
Nicotine is the reason smokers smoke, but
not the reason smokers die.
·
Nicotine
is powerfully addictive, but not the cause of any smoking-related
disease.
·
Smoking
efficiently delivers nicotine, an addictive drug, causing many pleasant
effects.
Risks of smoking versus
smokeless risks
·
All tobacco products have health risks
– smokeless tobacco is for smokers only
·
Inhaling
smoke, not nicotine, is the cause of cancer, heart attacks, and emphysema
in smokers.
·
Smokeless
delivers nicotine in a dose comparable to that delivered by smoking
cigarettes.
·
Smokeless
is 95% less dangerous than smoking.*#
·
Mouth
cancer from snus is rare. At most it is 80% less than the same risk from
smoking.*#
·
Smokeless
does not cause lung damage, and lung cancer is rare: no smoke is inhaled
into the lung.*
·
On average,
smokers lose seven years of life, while smokeless users lose four months.^
Quitting smoking by switching
·
Advising smokers to quit smoking and tobacco
at the same time (or die) helps some, but 4000 smokers annually continue
to die of smoking.
·
Unwilling to quit? Quit smoking, switch to
smokeless nicotine; deal with that addiction later.
·
Switching
to smokeless may reduce the weight gain associated with quitting smoking
·
Modern
smokeless products can be used invisibly – they are spit-free.
·
Smokeless
delivers nicotine without the smoke, and can be used anytime, anywhere,
much like a breath mint.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Adapted from www.smokersonly.org in the USA where smokeless tobacco is
on sale.
* For smokeless nicotine, see www.endsmoking.org.nz/fastnic.htm
*Assumes low nitrosamine Swedish moist snuff
(snus) is used, complying with www.endsmoking.org.nz/snuffregulations.htm
#Risks based on Levy 2004,
and NZ mortality pattern in 2000. (Peto 2004 www.ctsu.ox.ac.uk).
^ The loss of life for a particular
individual is unpredictable, and can vary greatly from the average.
|
