You Asked…about risks of tobacco
Sleepy Eye Hearld Dispatch
An advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is meeting to discuss the risks and benefits of dissolvable tobacco.
According to a FDA memo, the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee will discuss issues ranging from accidental poisoning from dissolvable tobacco, the effects of product packaging, marketing practices, youth perception of the products and the behavioral, toxicological and physiological effects of dissolvable tobacco.
Will the design of this product appeal to youth and addict younger adolescents and adults to nicotine?
These flavored sticks, strips or orbs are designed to allow people to use nicotine in places where smoking is prohibited.
Dr. Jonathan Winickoff, a pediatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston told HealthDay that these products are designed to look like a candy and addict the user permanently.
He added that they can be accidentally swallowed leading to nicotine poisoning.
Dr. Thomas Glynn, Director of Cancer Science and Trends at the American Cancer Society, said he is concerned that there is so much that is still not known about dissolvable tobacco products.
“At this point, we don’t know the full range of what is in them,” he said. “I don’t see any potential in these dissolvable products other than to keep people smoking,” he said.
An advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is meeting to discuss the risks and benefits of dissolvable tobacco.
According to a FDA memo, the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee will discuss issues ranging from accidental poisoning from dissolvable tobacco, the effects of product packaging, marketing practices, youth perception of the products and the behavioral, toxicological and physiological effects of dissolvable tobacco.
Will the design of this product appeal to youth and addict younger adolescents and adults to nicotine?
These flavored sticks, strips or orbs are designed to allow people to use nicotine in places where smoking is prohibited.
Dr. Jonathan Winickoff, a pediatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston told HealthDay that these products are designed to look like a candy and addict the user permanently.
He added that they can be accidentally swallowed leading to nicotine poisoning.
Dr. Thomas Glynn, Director of Cancer Science and Trends at the American Cancer Society, said he is concerned that there is so much that is still not known about dissolvable tobacco products.
“At this point, we don’t know the full range of what is in them,” he said. “I don’t see any potential in these dissolvable products other than to keep people smoking,” he said.
