English Smoking Ban

Well, the old snooze making a comeback, but with teens ... but this makes me wonder how many adult longtime smokers have already switched? I do know that I FREQUENTLY see empty COPENHAGEN containers tossed along the sidewalks and such. For a long time now, so maybe "Snooze-n" has been happening since the smoking bans started?

Would have to google to verify whats and where, but more banning progress taking effect in Alberta (Jan 1st i think???) and BC more bans come April 1st perhaps? (no fools joke I don't think but gotta verify)

Teens chewing tobacco

Smokeless tobacco is gaining popularity with high school students.

By JENNI DUNNING, SPECIAL TO SUN MEDIA

The London Free Press

Neil Bhatt, 17, a Saunders secondary school student, holds up containers of flavoured chewing tobacco that are becoming more popular with high school students. (Mike Hensen, Sun Media)

Dipping, spit, plug, or chew -- by whatever name, it's a trend in London high schools.

It's chewing tobacco.

Long associated with older generations, or spittoon-clinking cowboys, chewing tobacco has become a smoking substitute for youths and an energy-booster for others.

Just ask Steve Powers, 19, a graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas secondary school in London, who used to chew.

"It's a trend. There's no way around it," he said. "It's the same as smoking."

While some observers blame the tobacco industry for the trend, saying it goes after youths with candy-flavoured chewing tobacco, the National Smokeless Tobacco Co. Ltd. says its product is adult-only.


"I don't believe we have information that gets into (its popularity among teens) at all," said company spokesperson Tom Fitzgerald.

He said up to 60 per cent of those who buy the company's products -- those includes brands such as Skoal and Bandits -- are former smokers.

So, what's the appeal to young people, a generation repeatedly warned about the dangers of tobacco?

Many want a quick buzz or simply to fit in with the trend, said Neil Bhatt, 17, a Grade 12 student at Saunders secondary school.

Bhatt said he doesn't chew tobacco, but he's seen students at his school doing it.

His grandfather used to regularly chew, with no significant health effects, he said.

But after learning chewing tobacco contains 3,000 chemicals, such as arsenic and lead, Bhatt joined an anti-tobacco group, One Life Crew.

"I've never wanted to try it," Bhatt said. "I'm really informed about it now, and I could never understand why I would want to put that in me."

Powers started chewing tobacco when he was on the junior football team at school and saw older players do it.

His first chew made him feel dizzy and sick, he said. But he liked it better than smoking, so he took it up during class.

"It's way cheaper and it's more convenient," he said. "It's a way around no smoking signs."

Chewing tobacco -- it's consumed in pinches -- is a controlled product, just like cigarettes. Its legal sale is restricted to customers 19 and older. The average tin costs about $6, compared to about $9 for a pack of smokes.

Melissa Horan of the Middlesex-London Health Unit, a youth advisor with One Life Crew, contends the industry "actively" targets youth with chewing tobacco sold in candy flavours such as cherry, apple, mint, peach, citrus and berry.

With the product demand has come more flavours, said Tom White, owner of a Shell Select gas bar in London.

"We never used to sell all these new flavours -- it's like selling orange pop," said White, his business a few blocks from Oakridge and Aquinas high schools.

Horan said studies have shown kids as young as 12 have tried chewing tobacco.

Tobacco companies call the product "smokeless tobacco." But that's partly how kids get hooked on it, Horan said.

"It's giving the impression that it's smokeless and therefore is harmless," she said.

Chewing one pinch of tobacco for 30 minutes equals four cigarettes, she said.

The product contains lead and arsenic, can cause bad breath and lead to cavities and oral cancers, said Horan.

A recent survey of Ontario smokers age 15 to 19 showed 1.7 per cent chewed tobacco in 2003. It rose to 11.6 per cent by 2005, said Horan.