
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 26, 1991                   TAG: 9102260439
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

ORAL CANCER EPIDEMIC FROM SNUFF PREDICTED

A sharp increase in the use of moist snuff tobacco may lead in a few decades to an epidemic of oral cancer, a group of doctors say.

The physicians, from the American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, said Monday that the use of moist snuff, a flavored tobacco that is placed between the cheek and gum, has risen 50 percent since 1981 and that users are starting as early as the fifth grade.

The increased use will lead within a few decades to a sharp rise in the number of cancers of the mouth, gum, tongue and throat, Jerome Goldstein, executive vice president of the academy, said at a news conference. - Associated Press

by CNB