Experts Say New Tobacco Product Targets Yo...( Tworek first noticed Camel Snus...),Health

Tworek first noticed Camel Snus in a Morgantown gas station's convenience store, colorfully packaged in a refrigerated display case, and sporting youth-pleasing flavors such as frost and spice.

"Given West Virginia's high smoking rates, plus the fact that West Virginia has the highest rate of spit tobacco in the country among adult men, it makes sense that Morgantown became a test market for Camel Snus," she said. "Packaging, colors, and advertising have potential to appeal to a younger audience, including product pamphlets on where you can use Camel Snus. The 'spitless' nature of the product would also seem more attractive to women vs. other more traditional forms of smokeless tobacco, like chew or snuff."

The product's nicotine level is also an issue. To study nicotine and other chemicals in snus, the Division of Tobacco Prevention partnered with Tworek and Robert H. Anderson, deputy director of the WVU Prevention Research Center in the WVU Department of Community Medicine.

"Our research shows that nicotine levels in Camel Snus are stronger than levels in several snuff products sold in the United States," Anderson said. Previous data suggested that snus products being test-marketed in the United States were weak in nicotine, the authors wrote in a study presented for publication in an upcoming issue of the state's medical journal.

In contrast, the research findings indicate that the version of Camel Snus currently being sold in West Virginia has double the nicotine compared to an earlier analysis of a test-market version of the same product.

"With nicotine levels this high, these products are going to be highly addicting. The public needs this awareness, especially to remind them that there's no tobacco product that can be used without significant potential health risks," Adkins said.

Anderson added, "We think the target mar
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