Free Republic

New York Mayor Bill De Blasio has signed a bill that bans the use of smokeless tobacco products at all ticketed baseball stadiums, sports arenas and recreation areas. De Blasio signed the bill Wednesday. He said the legislation was important to the health of baseball players and the people of New York. The City Council approved the legislation last month by a vote of 44-3. It was sponsored by Council Member Corey Johnson. …

COMMENTARY For decades, public health advocates have championed harm reduction for people who cannot stop taking health risks — or do not want to. Needle exchange is a classic example. Intravenous drug users get clean needles because, the reasoning goes, contracting and spreading AIDS is worse than making heroin use a little easier. But harm reduction for hard-core smokers is another matter. At issue is a form of smokeless tobacco, a popular Swedish product called snus (rhymes with loose) that satisfies smokers' nicotine addiction with negligible health risks of its own. But to many foes of smoking, it is not...

Lying in the name of public health A recent study by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the most popular brands of smokeless tobacco in this country are the ones with the highest levels of readily absorbed nicotine. For the researchers, the finding was an opportunity to once again mislead the public about the hazards of oral snuff. "Consumers need to know that smokeless tobacco products...are not safe alternatives to smoking," said co-author Patricia Richter of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. "The amount of nicotine absorbed per dose from using smokeless tobacco...

Tobacco Pellets Not Subject to Regulation, FDA Says Agency Cites 2000 Ruling by Supreme Court Tobacco pellets sold in drugstores and supermarkets as an alternative to cigarettes cannot be regulated under current laws, the Food and Drug Administration concluded yesterday. Responding to citizens petitions from public health groups and the distributor of FDA-regulated nicotine lozenge products, the FDA said the pellets are a form of "smokeless tobacco" and cannot be regulated under the 2000 Supreme Court order striking down federal regulation of tobacco.