Alternative tobacco products – dual addiction
FARMINGTON – Davis County health officials are elated about the recent tobacco prevention and control program report, but are concerned about the newest tobacco products that are packaged to look like candy.
“There is no such thing as a safe tobacco product,” said Isa Kaluhikaua, community health educator with Davis County Health Department Health Promotions Bureau.
Kaluhikaua presented a report and slideshow to the Davis County Health Board on Tuesday and showed several new products that come in shapes that look like mints, candy and dissolvable strips. The products are about the size of a cell phone or pack of gum, she said.
The tobacco industry created the products because the number of cigarette users is decreasing, she said.
Tobacco companies are marketing them as a “safer alternative with fewer toxins,” Kaluhikaua said.
She said those addicted to nicotine are now carrying their cigarettes as well as the alternative products.
“Now they have a dual addiction,” she said.
Lewis Garrett, the director of the Davis County Health Department, said the products have not been regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, yet.
The tobacco items cannot be sold to anyone under the age of 19, but what concerns Garrett and other health officials is how the items look like candy and other sweets.
“If a child swallowed one or more they could easily get poisoned,” Garrett said.
Nicotine poisoning symptoms include tremors, nausea, vomiting, agitation, and, in more extreme cases, seizures, coma and death, according to the county’s newsletter.
Meanwhile, adult smoking in Davis County is at 6 percent, while across the state, 9.1 percent of adults smoke.
On Aug. 1, 2009, Davis Community Housing Authority passed a smoke-free policy for its 191 units in five complexes, Kaluhikaua said.
Davis County also placed 780 smoke-free outdoor public place signs.
The health department also recognized 79 retailers that have not sold tobacco to underage customers.
Albertson’s in Centerville and Sinclair Main Street Services in Layton received recognition for not selling tobacco to underage customers for the past 15 years.
Stores recognized for not selling tobacco to underage customers for the past 10 years are 7-Eleven on Main Street in Kaysville, Albertson’s in Kaysville, Hill Stop of Layton and Saigon Market in Sunset.
