Healthier Tobacco Comes with Risks

Ivanhoe Newswire
Thursday, May 10, 2007; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- It's a smoke-free tobacco that seems like it may be a healthier solution for smokers, but two new studies show there could be unexpected consequences.

The Swedish "snus" show no signs of increased risk of lung cancer or mouth cancer, but the recently published research shows those who use snus are twice as likely to develop pancreatic cancer when compared to those who never smoked.

One study, out of Australia, looked at life expectancy of people who use snus, people who smoke cigarettes, and never-smokers. In the end, they found little difference between the people who quit using all tobacco and smokers who switched to snus.

As compared to current smokers, though, these researchers report that switching to snus could offer health benefits. Based on their findings, they encourage fewer restrictions on the sale of snus.

A study of 280,000 Swedish construction workers also showed a benefit of snus -- no increased risk of lung or mouth cancer when users were compared to never-smokers. While they found the one benefit, they also discovered the increased risk of pancreatic cancer when snus users were compared with never-smokers, but their risk was still lower than that of the smokers.

The importance of this, write researchers, is that their " finding is at odds with the perception that use of Swedish moist snus has no demonstrable carcinogenic risk."

An accompanying editorial from Dr. Jonathan Foulds of the New Jersey School of Public Health offers the theory that, "In light of all the available evidence, the banning or exaggerated opposition to snus in cigarette-rife environments is not sound public health policy."

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: The Lancet, published online May 9, 2007