ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 14, 1996 TAG: 9605140057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PRINCETON, N.J.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
A NEW CAMPAIGN will try to discourage youngsters from chewing tobacco.
A campaign to teach young baseball players that their sport does not have to be linked to chewing tobacco is to begin next month.
The campaign will premiere July 5-9 during festivities leading to the All-Star Game in Philadelphia.
Former baseball stars and current players will sign autographs and hand out pamphlets outlining the dangers of chewing tobacco.
Len Dykstra of the Philadelphia Phillies, Mo Vaughn of the Boston Red Sox, broadcaster Joe Garagiola and Phillies trainer Jeff Cooper are among those helping to spread the word.
Toward that end, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation's largest philanthropy devoted to health and health care, has awarded a $767,000 grant to Oral Health America, America's Fund for Dental Health.
``Our grant will help build a new team to get spit tobacco out of baseball,'' said foundation spokesman Joe Marx. ``Working with parents, coaches, ballplayers and kids the message is: Baseball is about fun and athletic achievement, spit tobacco is about addiction and cancer.''
Public service announcements featuring baseball stars will air during the All-Star Game, playoffs and World Series.
About 5 million American adults use smokeless tobacco, the American Cancer Society says. About 10 percent of American men over 18 and about 20 percent of high school males currently chew. Using smokeless tobacco has been shown to cause cancers of the mouth and throat and contribute to periodontal disease.
Almost 40 percent of professional baseball players in the country are regular spit tobacco users and most say they have tried unsuccessfully to quit, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Earlier this month, Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Brett Butler was diagnosed with cancer of the tonsils. Butler and his doctor have downplayed his use of chewing tobacco early in his career as a cause of the cancer. Instead, they point to the secondhand smoke he was exposed to as a child by his chain-smoking parents.
Marx, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation spokesman, said there have been discussions about asking Butler to help out in the anti-tobacco campaign, but the baseball player has not been asked yet because he's recovering from surgery.
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