Using smokeless tobacco is associated with an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer, researchers report.

Dr. Paolo Boffetta from the International Agency for Research on Cancer...

The risk of pancreatic cancer was 67 percent higher among men who ever used smokeless tobacco than among men who never used smokeless tobacco, the authors report. The increased risk was limited to men who were also current smokers.

Overall, smokeless tobacco doesn't seem any safer than the smoking kind. As the researchers say, "Our study does not offer arguments in favor of the use of smokeless tobacco products to reduce the burden of tobacco-related cancer incidence or mortality."

Furthermore, they write, "It provides evidence of a carcinogenic effect on the pancreas, which should be taken into account in the assessment of the health effects of this group of products."

Boffetta...couldn't determine from the data if the risk of pancreatic cancer risk increased in step with the amount of smokeless tobacco used.

story

I don't know if the reporter's an idiot, "Overall, smokeless tobacco doesn't seem any safer than the smoking kind," or if that's what he was told to write. The article specifically mentions that "the use of smokeless tobacco was not tied to lung...cancer." Doesn't seem any safer? What idiocy.

What's worse is that this increased risk of pancreatic cancer from smokeless tobacco was only seen in...also SMOKERS! If they didn't smoke and used smokeless tobacco there was NO increased risk. No dose-response was found either. What kind of crap study and reporting of it is this?

While trying to find more on the above I ran across the following. This is your American tax dollars and charitable donations at work...in India.

Carcinogenesis
Tobacco-specific nitrosamines in smokeless tobacco products marketed in India

Funded by:
U.S. National Cancer Institute; Grant Number: CA-81301
American Cancer Society; Grant Number: RP-00-138
Office of the World Health Organization Representative to India, New Delhi; Grant Number: SE/02/232826

Abstract
Smokeless tobacco products are a known cause of oral cancer in India. Carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines in these products are believed to be at least partially responsible for cancer induction...The highest levels of tobacco-specific nitrosamines were found in...and other smokeless tobacco products...Levels of tobacco-specific nitrosamines in gutka were generally somewhat lower than in these products, but still considerably higher than nitrosamine levels in food...The results of our study demonstrate that exposure to substantial amounts of carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines through use of smokeless tobacco products remains a major problem in India.

abstract

Isn't it funny how they're not worried about nitrosamine levels in food? LOL