Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris USA and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco operating companies are planning to test-market a new type of smokeless tobacco product in Kansas starting in March. The product, called a smokeless tobacco stick, is designed for smokers or snuff tobacco users looking for a spit-free alternative to traditional oral tobacco such as snuff, a company spokesman said Wednesday. Top U.S. cigarette maker Philip Morris USA will test ... Jump to full article >>

In 1983, when Ken Miller was 15, he saw a few students walking across the parking lot at Blue Mountain High School in Schuylkill County. They were chewing something and spitting, and one of them said to Miller, “Here, try this.” Miller, then a budding athlete, stuffed a wad of smokeless tobacco in his jaw. “In 30 seconds,” he recalled, “I felt addicted.” It took 27 years and throat cancer, but the 43-year-old ... Jump to full article >>

OKLAHOMA CITY – As the harmful effects of smoking continue to receive national attention, tobacco companies have shifted their focus to smokeless tobacco products, claiming them to be a “safe” alternative to smoking cigarettes and actively working to build new customers. Through With Chew Week Feb. 20 – 26th, highlights the truth, that there are no “safe” tobacco products. In Oklahoma, tobacco companies have long used our culture of ... Jump to full article >>

Smoking has never been my thing. I am very much affected in London by the smokers who gather outside a bar on my street puffing and chatting until 3 a.m., despite my loud complaints. I have noticed that smoking patterns have shifted dramatically in the last decade both in Europe and in Japan in ways unimaginable before. While regulations restricting smoking are already having positive health effects, my life was much better when smoking was allo ... Jump to full article >>

Tobacco maker Star Scientific Inc. is asking the Food and Drug Administration to certify a moist smokeless tobacco it has developed as less harmful than other forms of tobacco on the market. The small Virginia company said Wednesday it has filed an application with the FDA to approve its Stonewall Moist-BDL as a “modified risk” product under the 2009 law that gave the FDA authority over tobacco. Star Scientific says the tobacco conta ... Jump to full article >>

Like any other high school kid, Stephen Strasburg wanted to emulate the major league baseball players he watched on television. He mimicked their actions down to the last detail. He rolled his pants up to reveal high socks, wore wristbands at the plate and, during downtime, opened tins of chewing tobacco and pinched some in his lower lip. Years later, having developed a powerful addiction, Strasburg regrets ever trying smokeless tobacco. Last fa ... Jump to full article >>

A small Virginia company, Star Scientific, Inc., is seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market one of its smokeless tobacco products as less harmful than other tobacco products. Star Scientific said its new Stonewall Moist-BDL dissovable tobacco lozenge has 90 to 99 percent fewer carcinogens than similar products and should qualify for a new “modified-risk” label being developed by the FDA. Two similar ap ... Jump to full article >>

A small, Virginia-based tobacco company said Tuesday that it will seek the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval to sell a new moist snuff tobacco as a “modified-risk” product with fewer cancer-causing agents. If its application is approved, Henrico County-based Star Scientific Inc. could be the first company to win an FDA designation of a tobacco product as potentially less hazardous to health. “I think (the toba ... Jump to full article >>

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Alarming statistics are causing the Palm Beach County health department to warn parents about smokeless tobacco. According to the health department twenty percent of Palm Beach County high school students and seven percent of middle schoolers use tobacco. The reason the health department is so concerned with these smokeless products is that they’re flavored, and they’re sold in ordinary convenience stor ... Jump to full article >>

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today ordered a ban on the sale of tobacco products like gutkha and pan masala in plastic pouches from March 2011, while asking the government to conduct a survey on the ill effects of these products within eight weeks. A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly also asked the manufacturers to explore and decide by March next year on the alternative material for packaging them. The bench issued the directions ... Jump to full article >>