University Daily Kansan, July 17, 1985
Page 7
Smokeless tobacco users beware
Snuff may be hazard to your health
By Jill Ovens
By Jill Ovens Staff Reporter
Many people who chew tobacco think it's less harmful to their health than smoking cigarettes and find out too late that it can cause serious dental and medical problems, a Lawrence legislator said Monday.
State Rep. Jessie Branson, D-Dawrence, said she would support legislation in the 1986 session to require warning labels on cans and pouches of smokeless tobacco if such legislation were introduced. At this stage, however, none has been proposed.
As a result of an executive order issued last week, Massachusetts became the state to require warning labels on cans and pouches of chewing tobacco. The order will become effective Dec. 1.
Under the new regulation, labels will read. "Warning: Use of snuff can be addictive and can cause mouth cancer and other mouth disorders." The word "snuff" which refers to a hardened nostril, the nostril, under the new regulation now refers to all forms of smokeless tobacco.
"I'm never sure how effective warning labels are," Branson said. "Introducing a bill might not reduce the use markedly, but it would bring attention and publicity to the problem so that more young people and their parents are aware of the
damage that chewing tobacco can cause."
Branson said that as a legislator, as a nurse and as the wife of a pediatrician, she was aware of the health hazards and concerned that everything possible be done to curb them, particularly among young people.
Kansas last year banned the sale of smokeless tobacco to minors. But according to two state officials, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has no plans to follow the lead of Massachusetts and require warning labels on containers of smokeless tobacco.
Jas D. Mankin, director of the dental program for the community health division of the department, will campaign for such a requirement.
"Something like that would come from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment rather than from the dental division," he said.
And Jim Pyles, the section product safety officer in the food, drug and lodging section of the department, said the Kansas Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act did not control the sale of cigarettes and tobacco in Kansas
Pyles said the warning labels on cigarette packages were mandated by the federal government in the 1965
"It would require a new statue for the state of Kansas," he said. "Nothing has been proposed at this
time unless it is being introduced in the 1986 Legislature by someone. Nothing is being sponsored under the Department of Health and
State Sen. Wint Winter Jr., R-Lawrence, said that no bills were pending in the Senate but that if he could prove he probably would support it
"We did pass a law prohibiting the sale of chewing tobacco to miners," he said "At that time, we heard enough evidence to convince us of the harmful effects to miners. The health issue is aware of the health problems."
The decision to require warning labels probably will come from the federal government, said State Rep Elizabeth Baker, R-Der, who introduced the legislation in the House of smokeless tobacco to minors.
Baker said that she was called after the 1855 legislative session by the U.S. Attorney General's office and that the office was looking into requiring the same warning labels on cigarettes as were on packages of cigarettes.
Last month, U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop appointed a panel of medical experts to assess the risks of smokeless tobacco Shirley Barb, a public relations officer for the surgeon general's office, said it would be several months before the committee would complete its study.
The tobacco industry argues that the case against chewing tobacco is unproven.
Gail Bail, a spokesman for the Smokeless Tobacco Council in Washington, D.C., said, "We believe that what exists is a scientific controversy. The jury is still out on the evidence of the health, therefore we believe that warning labels are unnecessary and unwarranted."
Lawrence Wise, a Lawrence oral surgeon, said the habit of chewing tobacco could cause leukoplakia, or pre-cancerous lesions.
"Over the years, I've biopsied and discovered a few oral cancers in people who chew tobacco," he said.
He said the cancers he had seen had been in older people.
NINTH AT MISSISSIPPI...
"It takes time to develop. That's why you don't see it very often in young people." Wise said.
People who chew tobacco say they were hooked by a pleasant, light-headed feeling when they first tried the juicy wads. Although they no longer experience that buzz, they say, they continue because they enjoy it, because it tastes good or because they can't stop.
Jun Frank, Prairie Village senior,
said that he was 16 and played on a baseball when he and his teammates began to chew tobacco. He still chews reasonably because he finds it enjoyable and because he likes the taste.
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Man sentenced for traffic death in 1984 accident
Kansan. Save it. You may need it!
By The Kansan Staff
A Eudora man convicted of misdeanear vehicide homicide in the traffic death last summer of a 33-year-old KU student was sentenced yesterday to one year in the Douglas County jail.
Bradley D. Byrne, 22, was charged in connection with an Aug. 21 accident on Kansas Highway 10 just east of Hainesville. The accident Haines, Lawrence senior, was killed.
Although Douglas County Associate District Judge Jean Shepherd gave Byrne the maximum allowable sentence, she ruled that he could be released from 4:30 a.m. on weekdays to attend work.
Haines, originally from Topeka, was a senior in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He had attended KU since 1955 and lived in McColum
Under a plea-bargaining agreement, charges of driving under the influence of an intoxicated and driving at an unreasonable speed were dismissed. Byrne pleaded no contest to the vehicular homicide charge.
Byrne's license was restricted to driving to work and to an alcohol treatment program. He was also ordered to pay court costs.
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