Originally
aired September 28, 2001
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Originally
aired September 28, 2001
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| PERSPECTIVE |
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There's no doubt Nebraska has a problem with teenagers smoking. The statistics back it up, and it may be one of the reasons behind a higher than expected infant mortality rate. Less attention has been paid to chewing tobacco - or smokeless tobacco, as the people who sell it prefer.
The PBS science program NOVA features a special episode called "In Search of a Safe Cigarette" on Oct. 2. In conjunction with that, "Statewide's" Bill Kelly worked on a project with reporters from several Nebraska media outlets - KNOP-TV, the Scottsbluff Star-Herald and Nebraska Public Radio. We found that Nebraska teenagers using smokeless tobacco apparently have convinced themselves that chew is a safe alternative to cigarettes. We also found that more teenagers are using smokeless tobacco than the national average. Among the possible reasons: Nebraska taxes chewing tobacco less than it does cigarettes; law enforcement does not routinely check to see if retailers sell chew to kids; and there's been a huge increase in advertising.
As Kelly reports, while cigarettes get most of the press, it may be time to pay attention to the other tobacco problem.
Local support
for STATEWIDE's coverage of tobacco and Nebraska's youth is provided by The
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
| VIDEOS |
Watch
the Perspective story here:| TRANSCRIPT |
Reported by Statewide correspondent, Bill
Kelly
[Singer with the band "Full Choke"] "As is
the tradition here at the Howell's Ball room, we gotta do some Chris LaDoux
for the cowgirls."
Saturday night at the Howell's Ballroom, and the band Full Choke always gets
a crowd of women on stage when they sing Copenhagen Angel.
[Singer
with the band "Full Choke"] "Any of you ladies that like to take
a pinch of snuff now and then, come on up and get some. Oh yeah."
It
may be the only song that pays tribute to girls who chew tobacco.
[singing "Copenhagen Angel"] "Well she's got a plug in both her
cheeks. She's got Copenhagen in her lip. She can roll her own. And I've never
seen her spit. She's my spit queen; she's my Copenhagen angel. Chew it up
honey!"
The
air is heavy with smoke, and it the dark dance hall, its tougher to spot those
who use chew. But when the lights go up at the end of the evening, its clear
that especially among the young men in the room, chewing tobacco is not out
of fashion.
[Reporter
Bill Kelly] "When did you start?"
[Cowboy 1] "About six years."
[Reporter Bill Kelly] "How old are you now?"
[Cowboy 1] "Twenty-one."
[Reporter
Bill Kelly] "How long have you been chewing?"
[Cowboy 2] "How long have I been chewing? About thirteen."
That
is not uncommon. In fact, recent studies reveal that Nebraska's young teens…and
even children… have not been afraid to try chew.
[Cowgirl] "We chewed to impress the boys!"
In
the most recent survey of middle school students…kids 12 to 16 years old…
12 percent said they had tried chewing tobacco. About a third of them said
they had tried it before the age of 11. For older kids, there are no numbers
for Nebraska, but in nearby states it's as high as 30 percent of students
have given chewing tobacco a try. In Kimball, Nebraska no one doubts that
a long of kids try it…and stick with it.
[Rob Bussinger, Teacher] "I think at a younger age. Some of the
7th and 8th graders are picking it up. That's surprises me the most."
[Reporter Bill Kelly] "You're seeing it at 7th and 8th grade."
[Bussinger] "Oh yeah."
[Mary Schultz, Teacher] "I caught kids chewing in school."
Mary
Schultz and Rod Bussinger teach a healthy lifestyles class, and not very many
were willing to concede that they chew... or even tried it.
[Student #1] "Well I've tried it several times and every time
I seem to puke, and I'm not really into that."
[Student #2] "I know people who chew instead of smoke, so they
don't smell like it and stuff, so their parents don't find out."
[Bussinger] "They're walking down the hallway, and they have cowboy
boots on, if stop them and tell them to take their cowboy boots off, they'd
have a can of chew in there in the boot."
[Schultz] "I think you'd be surprised how many of the girls chew.
Especially in more of the western Nebraska, or even in the lifestyle the kids
have become accustomed to."
The
signs that the chewing tobacco causes some ugly health problems to come to
light in otherwise very healthy kids. Kimball's school nurse saw it when she
still worked in Wyoming.
[Carol Beach, School Nurse] "We had… one young man who did have
a pre-cancerous lesion removed from his gum."
[Reporter Bill Kelly] "How old was he?"
[Beach] "He was fourteen. So he had been chewing since he was
ten. And his parents had given it to him so that's pretty hard to counter.
And it is most addictive… more so than cigarette smoking."
Jim
States, a dentist in North Platte, sees the effects of smokeless tobacco on
his patients… young and old.
[Dr. Jim States] "I would say probably in the last ten years it's
higher. Yeah, I think we see more of it. The kids are more in tune to it.
When you call it to their attention, they'll start discussing it. They're
more in tune to the dangers, but I think the rate of starting and using are
the same. I think it's the same.
"He had carried
the tobacco here."
State's
keeps this plaster cast of a long time chewer who lost teeth and jaw after
mouth cancer destroyed the bone.
[States] "And he comes in with his lip rolling back into his mouth
because he has no teeth to support it. And I look in his mouth and not only
does he not have any teeth to support it, he had… he'd lost four front teeth.
He'd lost a margin of bone down below and his tongue would hang out into this
area because there was nothing to hold it back as you can see on the model."
Go
to any rodeo in the state and you can see how deeply engrained it is in Nebraska.
[Reporter Bill Kelly] "Does Nebraska have a problem with smokeless
tobacco?"
[Cindy Wostrel, Health Education, Inc.] "Absolutely!"
Cindy
Wostrel of Health Education, Incorporated leads a campaign against tobacco
in the state.
[Wostrel] "I think that for one, smokeless tobacco products are
hands free and fire free which are probably two things that are real important
when you're working on a ranch or a farm. Unfortunately they're not cancer
free and they're not heart disease free and they're not gum disease free.
And so it certainly does not make for a safe alternative."
But
there seem to be plenty of people who incorrectly assume that chew is somehow
safer than cigarette. At the very least they know that chew has become more
convenient and accessible in an increasingly smoke-free world. The world's
largest maker of chew, US Smokeless Tobacco made clear it hopes to attract
more smokers to smoke-less product. In a letter to it's shareholders CEO Vincent
Gierer, Jr. wrote:
"Our smoke-free
products will be recognized by adults as the preferred way to experience tobacco
satisfaction."
They
are doing it in part by making chewing tobacco more of a bargain…. Reducing
prices, two for one give aways, and adding more product to each can. And a
full scale advertising blitz has begun. You expect to see an add for Copenhagen
in Motor Trend. New users are being recruited in places like the PG-rated
skin magazines. In this one, MAXIM, aimed at urban men in their early twenties…and
perhaps younger, the ads for chew equaled those for cigarettes.
[Wostrel] "I think that they are seeing some possibility for expanding
markets. Perhaps they're seeing the movements that are becoming stronger across
the country to prevent exposure to environmental tobacco smoke as an opportunity
to market to smokers who might not be able to get a nicotine fix in smoke-free
environments."
New
products like Revel use what US Smokeless call "pouch technology" that will
make putting tobacco straight in the mouth more appealing…or less disgusting.
Putting tobacco in the mouth also makes it more addictive, points out dentist
Jim States.
[Dr. Jim States] "The addiction from smokeless chewing tobacco
is as strong or stronger than it is with cigarettes and cigars. I've seen
that with a number of patients. They'll try… they… they go into tremors, irritability,
lack of sleep, loss of appetite. Try to quit for awhile and pretty soon they're
right back at it. It is terribly addicting, mainly because the smokeless tobacco
puts the nicotine right in underneath the tongue to the blood vessels and
it mainlines the drug into your bloodstream in less than thirty seconds."
Nebraska
does have more of a problem with chewing tobacco and young people than the
rest of the country. There may be decisions made by state policy makers and
politicians that are making the problem worse.
[Wostrel] "I think that on the policy end we're comparable among
smokeless tobacco and the smoking products. Both inadequate for both products."
Nebraska
still has fairly low taxes on all tobacco products…. Nearly half as much as
some states.
[Peg Hart, Tobacco Retailer] "We hear lots of complaints. But
it's still not as high, like I tell everybody, Washington right now has $8.50
a carton tax on their cigarettes."
[Reporter Bill Kelly] "Compared to Nebraska's?"
[Hart] "$3.40. So, I mean, they probably will put more tax on
them but I don't know. We're seeing people going from our premiums to generics.
Lots of that."
But
cigarettes are taxed twice… at the time of sale, and another 15% charged to
wholesalers. Chewing tobacco is only taxed once…. Just that 15% wholesale
rate. In addition, Nebraska sets a minimum price for cigarettes… you can't
sell them super cheap. There are no such restrictions on chewing tobacco.
That combination, some say, can make chew a more affordable alternative to
cash-strapped teenagers. State senators we talked to seemed surprised by the
difference.
[State Senator Don Pederson] "I'm not sure how that was even determined.
It was certainly determined far… far… a long ways back in my mind. But I don't
know why they have chosen that but… the department of revenue has never come
up with a… with a different suggestion."
Senator
Don Pederson would still be reluctant to change the formula. His colleague
from Grand Island was more open to the possibility.
[State Senator Ray Aguilar] "And I hate to see it become a bargain
for that same reason because… kids do gravitate towards where… you know, the
price. Although a lot of the surveys, for instance by a group called Smokeless
All County did a lot of surveys. And they asked kids, if we raise the price
by raising taxes would you quit. Most of them said no."
[Cindy Wostrel, Health Education, Inc.] "It's shown to be one
of the most effective ways to prevent tobacco use. And it's been our mission
to focus primarily on preventing tobacco use because we know how addictive
all tobacco products are. Much easier to keep a kid from starting and becoming
addicted than coming back ten years later and working with them to quit, no
matter how much they want to quit."
[State Patrol Officer] "I'm an investigator with the State Patrol.
That young man you just sold cigarettes to is a minor."
If
you are a minor, buying chewing tobacco may not be all that hard. And law
enforcement hasn't taken much interest in the problem.
[State Patrol Officer] "OK, what I am going to do is write
you a court summons for selling tobacco to a minor…."
We
rode along with the State Patrol investigators who look for violators by McCook
and North Platte.
[Reporter Bill Kelly] "Do you ever do smokeless tobacco?"
[Paul Gaboury, State Patrol Investigator] "Well we haven't. I
guess we've just told our people to go after cigarettes and they go get cigarettes.
We may try a little different approach and see what happens. It may be different."
Other
investigators apparently have checked on sales to minors… but not routinely,
even in cowboy country.
There
have been victories…one notable one in the rodeo ring. The makers of chewing
tobacco are major sponsors of rodeo. Look at past tapes of the River City
Round-Up, and you can see their banners lining the arena.
Even
at the smaller events, the riders earn points towards the Copenhagen top rider
award…. It's a big deal. But at this year's Wahoo rodeo…and all of Nebraska's
11 rodeos…that's the only reference to Copenhagen or Skoal you would hear
or see. US Smokeless Tobacco no longer sponsors rodeos in Nebraska. STATEWIDE
has learned that because of a state law that forbids handing out free samples
of tobacco, US Smokeless Tobacco is no longer interested in helping sponsor
rodeos here.
If
they can't give away their chewing tobacco to new Nebraska customers, it's
not worth their effort.