Beware Alternative Nicotine Products

Orbs, Sticks, Strips and Snus target children

As if it wasn’t bad enough that Joe the Camel advertisements seemed designed to attract our youth to smoking, now the tobacco industry is blatantly targeting children with their newest products: Orbs, Strips, Sticks, and “Snus.”

The dissolvable products -- a pellet (Camel Orbs and Star Scientific Ariva), a twisted stick the size of a toothpick (Camel Sticks), a film strip for the tongue (Camel Strips and Star Scientific Stonewall), and a pouch (Marlboro Snus), are made from finely-ground flavored tobacco or bits of powdered and compressed tobacco that dissolve in the user's mouth, leave no residue, and require no spitting.

Sandy Gleim, executive director of Healthy Communities of LaPorte County, said, “These products will likely be easy for kids to use in secret...in school, at home, and in public...so it is critical that parents warn their kids to stay away from these new dissolvable nicotine products. Even if they look harmless because they are packaged to look like gum and candy, they still contain strong doses of addictive nicotine and should be avoided completely.”

The products melt in the mouth within three to 30 minutes. R. J. Reynolds (RJR), manufacturer of the Camel products, said the Strips melt fastest, the toothpick-like Sticks dissolve in about 10 minutes, and the pellet-size Orbs last the longest. The nicotine delivery of the products is said to be high: whereas a cigarette smoker typically takes in about 1 milligram of nicotine, the dissolvables are said to deliver about 0.6 to 3.1 mg of nicotine each.

Manufacturers claim that their dissolvable products are “the best tobacco you never smoked” and “no spitting required: dissolves in your mouth.”  Their promotional materials include tag lines such as “Face the future! Join the Movement!” and “Revolution in Pleasure.”  The tobacco giants state that users have “no boundaries” and that their products are smoke-free, spit-free, discreet and odor-free.

All the advertisements serve to entice youth to use these new nicotine delivery systems.

Many of these dissolvable tobacco products have been on the market since 2001, sold nationwide at pharmacies, gas stations, and grocery chains. R.J. Reynolds has released Camel Orbs in these selected cities: at Super Speedway in Columbus, Ohio, and Indianapolis, Indiana, and in Portland, Oregon. Camel Sticks, flavor mellow, will be released in these cities in Spring 2009, and the Strips in the flavor “fresh” will be released in summer 2009. National release dates are undisclosed. A recent phone and personal visit survey conducted by Healthy Communities of LaPorte County shows that the Camel products apparently aren’t available yet locally.

National public health advocacy groups take particular offense to harm-reduction inferences used by the tobacco company in reference to these deceptive products. “Tobacco manufacturers have been making health-related claims for decades without scientific evidence and verification,” Matthew Myers, president of nonprofit advocacy group Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids, Washington, D.C., is quoted as saying on the  web site. “Marketing products whose liquid consumers swallow without independent analysis of its health effects is of great concern.”

Gleim adds, “These products are designed to enhance social acceptability of tobacco. The dissolvables have left the realm of traditional tobacco products and are more similar in nature to food. These products may be smokeless, but they are still dangerous because they keep people addicted. Also, they're attractive to kids, because they're easy to hide and look like candy or breath mints. Adults must be even more vigilant in helping their children refuse nicotine...in whatever form it is available.”

For more information about tobacco prevention and cessation efforts in LaPorte County, call Healthy Communities at 326-6260.

1-800-QUIT-NOW  Indiana Tobacco Quitline          

Everyone who is interested in kicking smoking is encouraged to call this 

statewide quitline for free support in quitting, a quit kit of materials and / or referrals to local community resources.  As well as free two free boxes of Nicotine Replacement Therapy products. You also can directly access the www.indianatobaccoquitline.net  web site for assistance. Call today to start on the path for a healthier, smoke-free tomorrow!

Who We Are

The Healthy Communities movement began in the mid-1980s, aiming to spread positive change across the country. Its ambitious goal is to measurably improve residents' health and long-term quality of life.

Healthy Communities of LaPorte County (HCLC) takes a broad view of health, forming new collaborative efforts with individual and organizational partners, and sharing resources to address unmet needs and to build stronger communities.

Our History

The group organized in late 1996 with leadership from LaPorte Regional Health System (LRHS) and LaPorte Hospital Foundation. Saint Anthony Memorial was invited to join the effort, and the two health systems continue to be major supporters of the organization.

The next year, public meetings were sponsored to introduce the Healthy Communities concept and invite participation in the process. The Healthy Communities Initiative advanced to identify unmet health-related needs.

In April of 2000 the group formed plans to expand to a countywide "quality of life" organization and recruited dozens of community leaders to help redefine its direction.

A year later, a full-time director was hired. That fall, "visioning" sessions were held throughout the county to find out what area residents felt were the most important unmet needs. At a countywide meeting in November 2001, results of these meetings and other research assessments were presented, and new priority issues were adopted for the organization.

Since its inception, the number of Healthy Communities' issue councils has quadrupled, to include the important quality of life efforts listed in the column at right.

Early Achievements

• In its early years, Healthy Communities collaborated with 13 organizations and agencies, with major contributions from LaPorte County Public Library, to develop a computer-based Community Information Resource to help people locate needed human services. You can access this database by clicking on the LaPorte County "helping services " box in the upper left corner of this page.
• HCLC also coordinated development of a dental clinic, located within Community Health Center at 400 Teegarden Street, LaPorte, to provide basic dental care for Medicaid beneficiaries, low-income and uninsured county residents.

Where We Are Now

HCLC currently focuses on the following important areas, tackling these topics through a collaborative council structure:

• Health
• Tobacco Prevention and Cessation
• Transportation expansion
• Literacy
• Covering Kids & Families (Hoosier Healthwise and HIP enrollment)

The mission statement of Healthy Communities of LaPorte County is to initiate and support a dynamic community-wide change process that will enable LaPorte County residents to identify, take ownership of, and find solutions to critical issues that impact their emotional, physical and spiritual health, and hence, the overall quality of life in LaPorte County.

Call 326-6260 to find out how you can contribute to Healthy Communities' vision.