Research has definitively shown that our youth are well-educated when it comes to the dangers of smoking cigarettes. Nevertheless they are surprisingly ignorant when it comes to how dangerous smokeless tobaccos like dip and chewing tobacco are.
Here are some facts your teen would learn from taking a tobacco class from a website like onlinedrugclass.com. As reported in www.goupstate.com.
Smokeless tobacco contains 28 cancer-causing agents (carcinogens). While that is far less than the more than 400 carcinogenic chemicals in a cigarette, because this type of tobacco is placed against the sensitive linking of the gums, it is especially dangerous.
Of course smokeless tobacco is a known cause of human cancer and increases the risk of developing cancer of the oral cavity. Mouth cancer associated with dip has a much higher mortality rate than lung cancer.
Additionally, it can leave a person with no teeth and even missing parts of the mouth and tongue. Smokeless tobacco is associated with recession of the gums, gum disease, and tooth decay.
Smokeless tobacco is also strongly associated with leukoplakia — a precancerous lesion of the soft tissue in the mouth that consists of a white patch or plaque that cannot be scraped off.
While very few women use smokeless tobacco, its use during pregnancy increases the risks for preeclampsia (i.e., a condition that may include high blood pressure, fluid retention, and swelling), premature birth, and low birth weight.
For the ever virile man beware, smokeless tobacco use by men causes reduced sperm count and abnormal sperm cells.
Believe it or not, nicotine levels in smokeless tobacco are much higher than cigarettes. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that smokeless tobacco use can lead to nicotine addiction and dependence.
Likewise, it is not surprising that adolescents who use smokeless tobacco are more likely to become cigarette smokers.
Parents, do yourself a favor and educate yourselves and your children about the dangers of smokeless tobacco. Take an online tobacco class with your kids.