The tobacco industry is shifting its’ product development away from cigarettes and focusing on new dissolvable products that are being “test-marketed” in the states of Colorado and North Carolina. They are currently being sold in Steamboat Springs. Because there has been so much concern regarding these products, the state Board of Health members unanimously approved a resolution n September requesting that R.J. Reynolds Company remove Camel Sticks, Strips and Orbs from Colorado until a decision by the Food and Drug Administration to regulate such products as tobacco products is determined.
Here’s what you need to know about dissolvable tobacco products –
- They are candy-like tobacco products that are being test marketed in 2 states; Colorado is one of them. They include Orbs (which look like breath mints), Sticks (which look like toothpicks) and Strips (which look like breath strips). Some products have 3 times the amount of tobacco in a cigarette.
- RJ Reynolds is the company who make these products. The same company that gave us the Joe Camel cartoon character to sell Camel cigarettes is the maker of these candy-like products. These products dissolve like candy.
- Surveys of youth have found those who may never have tried tobacco would try these new products. If they never start, they will never have to quit.
- There are no safe tobacco products. Dissolvable products are not candy, they are tobacco and contain nicotine the addictive poison in tobacco.
- Dissolvables make it easier to take in greater amounts of nicotine, the addictive poison in tobacco products. For example, a teen can put several of the new Camel Orbs, a product that looks like a tic-tac, in their mouth at one time and you would not see any physical change in their mouth.
On July 19th, 2011, the N-CTRL (Non-Cigarette Tobacco Product Retail License) Ordinance was unanimously adopted by the Steamboat Springs City Council. This ordinance could not have happened at a better time and may prove crucial in protecting minors in our community from these products. For more information about the N-CTRL ordinance or the new dissolvable tobacco products contact Vicki Barron, Community Health Educator, Northwest Colorado VNA, 970-875-1883.
Vicki Barron, RN, AE-C
Community Health Educator
Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurse Association