AHA rejects smokeless tobacco for smoking cessation
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Smokeless tobacco products are not appropriate alternatives to nicotine-replacement therapies, the American Heart Association says. A policy statement published online Sept. 13 in AHA's journal Circulation notes that, despite the push for smokeless tobacco as a risk-reduction strategy for smokers, the association "does not recommend the use of ST as an alternative to cigarette smoking or as a smoking-cessation product." Smokeless products, such as Phillip Morris' snus, produce plasma nicotine levels in users too low to make them as effective for cessation as NRTs, which "have an impressive safety record," according to the AHA team led by Mariann Piano of the University of Illinois at Chicago's Department of Biobehavioral Health Science. FDA is weighing Star Scientific's citizen petition for "modified-risk" claims for its smokeless tobacco products (1"The Tan Sheet" March 1, 2010)