"We must stop the release of dissolvable tobacco produc

[darkwing]

From snus-news.blogspot:
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
In Process - We must stop the release of dissolvable tobacco products..

December 9, 2008 - The holiday season is almost upon us. Our minds start to be more concerned with looking forward to being with friends and family and making this Christmas the happiness for our kids and if so, grandchildren. Meanwhile behind the scenes, R.J.Reynolds Tobacco is planning to test market three Camel brand dissolvable tobacco products in mid-to-late January 2009 in three trial markets. No smoke, no spitting, nothing to dispose of and no one will ever know - just experience true pleasure. Just like they did for Camel SNUS you can be sure Reynolds of Joe Camel fame will heavily promote these products (a company rep indicated that print ads, direct marketing, sampling (at bars and nightclubs) and point-of-purchase promotions will be used).

The Camel Dissolvables Products: Sticks (twisted) can be placed in the mouth like a toothpick or broken into a pieces that is placed between the upper lip and gum, where it dissolves after 10 minutes; Orbs, which is a pellet (like placing a candy in your mouth) that lasts about 15 minutes and film Strips for the tongue, which dissolve after about 3 minutes. Flavors - Strips will come in fresh mint flavor and Sticks in Mellow; Orbs will be available in both flavors. Camel Dissolvables deliver between 0.6 to 3.1 milligrams of nicotine, while cigarette smokers typically inhale about 1 mg per cigarette.

Once the sales start it will already be too late. Kids are going to think this is the coolest stuff; they can use it at any time no one will ever know and it will derive pleasure and being easier to cope with the stress of life. You can't reason with your child to stop because you'll never know until it's too late. They'll rationalize "Everyone does it" - "No one will know" - "Who's going to find out?".
Teenagers are infamous for being on the cutting edge of current fads and trends. The reason why teens are on the lookout for something new and different is almost a given: they are working on their identity. Your teen wants to identify with something that makes him/her feel good about him/her self - the silent killer tobacco.

Only problem after using this stuff for a few times - our kids our future leaders soon will be addicted to nicotine for their whole life. So for the child you've tried so hard to make the very best becomes a nicotine addicted never able to reach their full potential. There are many adverse effects that occur with nicotine but one of the major ones is that it interferes with the adolescence brain development.

Tobacco harm reduction proponents think these products are a good option not considering our primary focus - our kids. For example, Bill Godshall, the executive director of SmokeFree Pennsylvania., "I'm pleased that Reynolds is being aggressive in accelerating the switch to smokeless tobacco and getting more products that are likely to appeal to tobacco users."

Now is the time to step forward and STOP the release of these products.

[jamesstew]

It would be much better seemingly if teens smoked instead. The same teens that would be using this are the ones that would be smoking anyway.

[chainsnuser]

It would be much better seemingly if teens smoked instead. The same teens that would be using this are the ones that would be smoking anyway.

Of course it would be! Meaning that these anti-tobacco-nazis would not get unemployed for generations to come.

Cheers!

[Jason]

I think these people are obviously out of touch when it comes to kids. When I started smoking, it wasn't for the nic hit, taste, flashy pics on the pack, etc. It was because it was cool; the rebels and loners smoked, as well as all of the cool guy movie stars and musicians.

I don't think I would have looked anywhere near as cool, behind the gym wearing my leather jacket with my leg propped up against the wall.......and sucking on a cough drop or putting a gel strip in my mouth. :P

[truthwolf1]

Why not ban nicotine gum or lozenges? Those products seem closer to something a youngster might want to pop in his mouth.

[paulwall9]

I also agree now days young people will want to hide tobacco use alot from their parents so smokeless or gum/cough drops it will be.

[snusjus]

Re: "We must stop the release of dissolvable tobacco pr

Camel Dissolvables deliver between 0.6 to 3.1 milligrams of nicotine, while cigarette smokers typically inhale about 1 mg per cigarette.

Actually, they only deliver 10%-20% of the nicotine contained in the product; this means a person would absorb 0.3mg-0.6mg nicotine from the strongest Camel dissolvable product. In my opinion, these products will most likely fail because they will not deliver adequate amounts of nicotine to addicts (cigarettes smokers). However, R.J. Reynolds would never want their customers to switch to their smokeless products, since cigarettes are less expensive to manufacture than smokeless tobacco.

[holnrew]

Why do they have to emotionally load everything?
Why would teenagers consume nicotine in a way that nobody else can see? It really is a rebellion thing. That's why I started anyway (at 20... but I was rebelling against something other than my parents.)

[sean90]

while this person seems to be a bit extreme, and is exagerating things, they do have a bit of a point. i started using snus before i'd ever smoked, because the idea of smoking disgusts me, and now that i have smoked, my feelings have been confirmed.
i think this would appeal to people who don't like smoking for whatever reason, not just people who would be smoking anyway

[spirit72]

Sure, whatever. Fine.


Let 'em go after the candy, then.

[deebocools]

Perhaps if parents don't want their kids using drugs they shouldn't make their lives a living hell of authoritative intrusion.

[jackolantern]

I don't really see kids jumping on this bandwagon. Like others have stated, kids smoke to be seen smoking. They just don't want to be seen by their parents or authority figures. They are not doing it because they like nicotine. Kids typically have access to much stronger recreational drugs, and the love/addiction to nic only comes later after they are already hooked.

If kids just wanted the nicotine, there would have been a problem with them using nicotine gum years ago. Many of them can probably get it easily (I am sure tons of their parents have boxes of it at home from failed quitting attempts that they still plan to use). Nothing could be more discreet than popping a piece of white gum.

Also, no one is even sure of what the carcinogen level of these products is going to be. The twists sound like they probably contain some form of tobacco, but to dissolve, it must be highly modified. Maybe the carcinogens could be removed? The R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris companies have been trying to find a way to stop killing their loyal customer base for years without alienating them. If at all possible, I am sure they would love to release a product that satisfies the addiction without causing cancer. At that point, what are we afraid of? The children becoming slaves to a product? While I can understand that, the main point in my eyes is not letting children become addicted to a product that could very well one day kill them before they are old enough to rationally make that decision. If we are simply afraid of something that will addict them without adverse health affects, then we would need to set age restrictions of World of Warcraft, too.

[gentlemanly]

I don't think that it's necessarily about the nicotine, as it is about the tobacco. Nicorette is carcinogen free, and produced by pharmacutical companies to "cure a disease". As long as there are addictive properties in products, there will be those who are against it, be it alcohol, drugs, tobacco, Kentucky Fried Chicken...

[darkwing]

From Oregonlive.com:

'Camel Dissolvables" head for Portland
by The Oregonian editorial board
Saturday December 20, 2008, 10:49 AM
Oregon public health officials and anti-tobacco campaigners will convene at a Northeast Portland watering hole on New Year's Eve to celebrate a moment they battled for years to make happen.


R.J. Reynolds
R.J. Reynolds' new line of dissolvable tobacco products will be test-marketed in Portland beginning in January.
One second after the stroke of midnight, they will say goodbye to the feeble Oregon law that still allows smoking indoors where 35,000 people work. It will be replaced by a new law, passed by last year's Legislature, expanding Oregon's workplace smoking ban to include pubs, bars, restaurant lounges, bingo halls, bowling alleys, employee break rooms and just about every other workplace except cigar salons and tobacco shops.

California and Washington passed such laws long ago. Now bars and restaurants in those states are faring better than ever, contrary to dire warnings from the pro-tobacco lobby.

Oregon health advocates should savor this hard-fought victory, but they will need to get up the next morning and resume the good fight. The tobacco industry is gearing up to trump anti-smoking legislation by peddling new dissolvable nicotine products -- still addictive and risky like cigarettes, but without the smoke.

Portland will be ground zero in this big push.

In January, the city will be one of three test markets in the United States where R.J. Reynolds will introduce dissolvable alternatives to cigarettes called Camel Sticks, Camel Orbs and Camel Strips.

Made from finely milled tobacco and held together with food-grade binders, these products can be placed in the mouth like a toothpick or broken into a piece that is placed between lip and gum, like chewing tobacco or snus except that it's spit-free.

Oregon's interim state epidemiologist, Dr. Katrina Hedberg, says that even though the "sticks," "orbs" and "strips" are smoke-free, they're still a health hazard designed to "help people continue their addiction." She's particularly concerned that the candy-flavored products will be marketed to underage consumers as a gateway to cigarettes.

R.J. Reynolds denies this. As evidence, it trumpets the fact that Camel Dissolvables, as the product line is called, will be sold in child-proof packaging.

That's laughable. We know they're not targeting 2-year-olds.

The company, creator of the notorious Joe Camel cartoon campaign, has a poor track record on kid-slanted sales. Just last year, after it began test-marketing candy-flavored Camel snus in Portland, and teachers learned how to spot the distinctive round snus tins in hip pockets at school, the company switched to tins shaped like cell phones.

Camel's next big push in Portland comes at a time when 75 percent of Oregon smokers who were polled say they want to quit. The new law that takes effect Jan. 1 will make that challenge less daunting because people trying to quit will be able to go to bars, taverns and restaurants without being surrounded by others smoking.

This is great progress, but there must be no let-up against Big Tobacco's relentless campaign to get Oregonians addicted to tobacco and keep them hooked.

You'll see the proof soon when those Camel strips, orbs and sticks start showing up near the checkout stands.

--Bob Caldwell, editorial page editor; bobcaldwell@news.oregonian.com

COMMENTS (7)Post a comment

[Wazzy]

Kids are going to get their fix on anything they want. R.J. is just making it more tasty I guess. I'm not real sure what the point of the new product is, is it for people who can't smoke in certain places and it just so happens that kids will like it or what. I agree if they are worried about kids doing this I think the nic candy comes in many new flavors ban them as well. I know it sucks when you can't smoke anywhere in public I live in Louisville KY where you can't smoke anywhere except at Church Hill Downs you know, where they have the Kentucky Derby each year. That is one of the reasons why I switched to snus. The anti-tobacco crazes will not be happy till everyone quits tobacco in any form that is what they do everyday. They wake up and think "whose life can we jack with today".