Sunday started the Through With Chew week, sponsored by Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health. This is meant to bring awareness to those trying to quit smokeless tobacco products.
According to a press release from BBPH, quitting smokeless tobacco reduces the risk of cancer, heart disease, birth defects and even death.
Sue Kahler is a nationally certified tobacco treatment specialist. She explained the science behind potential cancer those products can cause.
She says, “When you use the smokeless tobacco, there’s 28 carcinogens that are in there, so cancer-causing agents. And out of that, you can get mouth cancer, throat cancer, you also have heart disease that’s part of that too. So it’s not just your mouth and your throat, it’s your heart that can be affected by that.”
Kahler says the Great American Spit out, the day tobacco users across America aim to quit, is Feb. 25.
