Wagoner Community Hospital Supports

“THROUGH WITH CHEW” WEEK

FEBRUARY 14-20, 2010

TO HIGHLIGHT DANGERS OF SMOKELESS TOBACCO USE

Free Coaching by Phone and Free Patches or Gum Help Smokeless Tobacco Users Quit for Good

Call 1-800-QUIT NOW

OKLAHOMA CITY – It has many names and flavors like apple, spice, frost, wintergreen, cherry, peach and vanilla. It’s not chewing gum or the latest candy craze. Its names include smokeless, spit tobacco, snuff, chew, dip and snus. No matter what you call it – smokeless tobacco products are filled with cancer-causing chemicals.

The important message is that smokeless tobacco doesn’t mean harmless tobacco. February 14-20 is Through With Chew Week and Oklahomans who use smokeless products are encouraged to quit by calling the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669).

“Tobacco has deadly consequences in all its forms,” said Tracey Strader, executive director of the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust. “The tobacco industry is very clever. They know that if they disguise smokeless products in fancy flavors, more people – especially young people – will likely be lured into nicotine addiction.”

Through With Chew Week is a national educational awareness week designed to get people talking about smokeless tobacco use and increase awareness of the negative health effects of using chew. Thursday, Feb. 18 is the Great American Spit Out, a day to help smokeless tobacco users kick the habit.

Among Oklahoma adults, 5.4 percent, or about 130,000, currently use smokeless tobacco. To support the efforts of tobacco users who are trying to quit, the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline offers free patches or gum, as well as free coaching, to help all tobacco users break the addiction to nicotine and give up tobacco for good.

The Helpline is funded by the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET), the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Last year, the Helpline served more than 37,000 Oklahomans and is expecting to serve more than 40,000 this year.

The Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline operates seven days a week. Services are available to Oklahomans who use tobacco products of any kind. Services are also available in Spanish by calling 1-800-793-1552 and for the Deaf or Hard of Hearing through Video Phone at 1-206-494-9650. For more information about the Helpline, go to: www.ok.gov/tset/Programs/Helpline.html. For more information about quitting tobacco use go to: www.smokefree.gov.

The Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust was established through a constitutional amendment approved by Oklahoma voters in 2000. While most state governments have failed to keep their promise to use tobacco settlement funds for tobacco prevention and other programs to improve health, Oklahomans have created an endowment to assure that funds will be available for these purposes for generations to come. To learn more go to: www.tset.ok.gov.