Smokeless Tobacco: “Can there be fire when there is no Smoke” Part 4

Does cancer occur with smokeless tobacco

Unlike cigarette smoking, it is still not known completely known whether smokeless tobacco can cause cancer of the oral cavity. Numerous studies have been done and the results are conflicting. Some researchers claim that smokeless tobacco products have a very low risk for causing cancer of the oral cavity and that the products could be used as a means to stop smoking. If the data show that these products are harmless, it really makes one wonder why the government would make it mandatory for warning signs to be placed on all smokeless tobacco products.
Health Hazard of Smokeless Tobacco

For decades there had been a big debate about the association of oral cavity cancer with the use of smokeless tobacco products. Smokeless tobacco is not harmless. There is a lot of evidence that smokeless tobacco products used in SE Asia and in the United States cause oral cancer. Today, all studies have confirmed that Oral cancer is 4 times more likely to occur in users of smokeless tobacco than in those who do not use tobacco products. The annual incidence of oral cancer is estimated at 26 cases per 100,000 users of smokeless tobacco. Today, the incidence of oral cancer in the United States is estimated to be 30,000 cases per year, with an estimated 7800 deaths from oral cancer in 2001.

The survival rates for individual who develop oral cavity cancers is variable and dependent on the size of the rumor, time of diagnosis, location of the lesion and whether the tumor has spread to the adjacent neck lymph nodes. For most individuals who have an oral cavity cancer, at 5 years less than 35% are alive. Other studies do show that a significant number of individual who have used smokeless tobacco products have an increased risk of heart disease and also breast cancer