520 



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discourage its use among players. We believe that if role models 

 kick the habit, adolescents are less likely to take up smokeless 

 tobacco. 



Unfortunately, the use of smokeless tobacco products among college 

 athletes and adolescents has increased significantly over the past 

 twenty years. Gregory N. Connolly, D.M.D., Director of the 

 Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program, testified before this 

 subcommittee that the use of snuff among males 18-19 years of age 

 increased from .3 percent in 1970 to 7 . 6 percent in 1991. Twenty- 

 four percent of all white male high school students used smokeless 

 tobacco at least once during the past month, according to a 1990 

 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Finally, there was a forty percent 

 increase (from twenty percent to twenty-eight percent) in the use 

 of smokeless tobacco among college athletes from 1985 to 1989, with 

 a fifty-seven percent usage rate among NCAA baseball players. 



The U.S. Surgeon General has warned that the use of smokeless 

 tobacco among adolescent boys could lead to higher oral cancer 

 rates several decades from now, according to a 1992 study by the 

 National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute. 



You and the entire Subcommittee on Health and the Environment are 

 to be commended for your efforts to draw attention to the very 

 significant public health problems caused by tobacco products. The 

 Association also supports your efforts, Mr. Chairman, to create a 

 smoke-free work environment through the enactment and enforcement 

 of legislation and regulations to reduce the exposure of nonsmoking 

 adults and children to environmental tobacco smoke, pursuant to 

 H.R. 3434. 



The need for strict regulation of tobacco products and 

 environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is obvious. A report recently 

 published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded 

 that ETS is a grave threat to nonsmokers. ETS is a human lung 

 carcinogen, responsible for about 3000 lung cancer deaths annually 

 in nonsmokers. The EPA also estimated that ETS increases the risk 

 of respiratory disease in children, 7,500 to 15,000 of such 

 illnesses result in hospitalization each year. In those who smoke, 

 inhalation of tobacco products is now responsible for about 434,000 

 deaths per year. It has also been documented for about 40 years 

 that tobacco use causes lung cancer in humans, is a major risk 

 factor for heart disease and causes many chronic respiratory 

 diseases. 



The ADA will be pleased to work with you in the future as you 

 determine the best course to follow in determining FDA jurisdiction 

 and other appropriate legislative and regulatory actions. 



Sincerely, 



rfohn S. Z^p, D.D.S. 

 ^ecutive Director 



