Oral use of Swedish moist snuff (snus) and risk for cancer of the mouth, lung, and pancreas in male construction workers: a retrospective cohort study.
Luo J, Ye W, Zendehdel K, Adami J, Adami HO, Boffetta P, Nyrén O.
Source
BACKGROUND:
Although classified as carcinogenic, snuff is used increasingly in several populations. Scandinavian moist snuff (snus) has been proposed as a less harmful alternative to smoking, but precise data on the independent associations of snus use with site-specific cancers are sparse. We aimed to assess the risks for cancer of the oral cavity, lung, and pancreas.
METHODS:
Detailed information about tobacco smoking and snus use was obtained from 279 897 male Swedish construction workers in 1978-92. Complete follow-up until end of 2004 was accomplished through links with population and health registers. To distinguish possible effects of snus from those of smoking, we focused on 125 576 workers who were reported to be never-smokers at entry. Adjusted relative risks were derived from Cox proportional hazards regression models.
FINDINGS:
60 cases of oral, 154 of lung, and 83 of pancreatic cancer were recorded in never-smokers. Snus use was independently associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer (relative risk for ever-users of snus 2.0; 95% CI 1.2-3.3, compared with never-users of any tobacco), but was unrelated to incidence of oral (0.8, 95% CI 0.4-1.7) and lung cancer (0.8, 0.5-1.3).
INTERPRETATION:
Use of Swedish snus should be added to the list of tentative risk factors for pancreatic cancer. We were unable to confirm any excess of oral or lung cancer in snus users.
snus is 99% less carcinogenic than smoking and it only increases risk for pancreatic cancer (and maybe eventually they'll found something about other cancers with increased average life-span). snus is a form of tobacco, so I doubt that nicotine patches (or any other non-tobacco nicotine) are so carcinogenic that somebody who doesn't plan to live more than 100 years should worry about. but OTOH, this is imminst forum, so you should worry about it.
my story about smoking: I started smoking after I abused anticholinergics and felt terrible for a week or so, it was a kind of HPPD. I read on some forum that one guy had same problem, which smoking alleviated for half an hour or so. I was desperate so I smoked a pipe and immediately I felt normal again (and also very relaxed and nauseous). since I used very strong tobacco I immediately got hooked. I really felt nicotine for three hours or so because I didn't have any tolerance so I smoked about three times a day for a couple of weeks, after this I only smoked occasionally but I was addicted so I started using snus. now I'm planning to quit it in few weeks, maybe I'll use patches, but I guess I'll never get over addiction totally. so, don't try it kids it's bad fo' ya'! maybe it helps some people with ADHD, OCD or schizophrenia, but otherwise it's not worth it. it also costs a lot if u use it regularly.
Edited by hippocampus, 22 November 2011 - 06:06 PM.
