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

DATE: FRIDAY, April 16, 1993                   TAG: 9304160293
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: ATLANTA                                LENGTH: Short

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CDC BLAMES PLAYERS IN TOBACCO INCREASE

Americans are using more chewing tobacco and snuff every year and the influence of baseball players is partly to blame, federal health authorities said Thursday.

"The use of smokeless tobacco by professional athletes . . . presents a constant negative role model," said Dr. Michael Eriksen of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC said 5.3 million adults used chewing tobacco or snuff in 1991, the latest data available. About 4.8 million were men, equaling 5.6 percent of all men, compared with only 533,000, or less than 1 percent, of women.

- Associated Press

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