Published: February 23, 2008 03:20 pm      

Anti-tobacco spokesman Rick Bender tells dangers of smokeless tobacco

Do “smoke free” and “tobacco free” mean the same thing?

No.

“Smoke free means no smoking, but you can still use spit tobacco there,” Rick Bender told seventh and eighth grade students at the Southeast Expo Center Thursday. “Tobacco free means no tobacco at all is allowed there.”

The difference between the two can be confusing to some, and leave a person with a false sense of security about their risk of tobacco-related cancer.

“Tobacco free is better, and it’s safer. You might think — like I did — that you’re smoke free because you use spit tobacco, but it’s still nicotine and it can still cause cancer.

“It can kill you.”

Bender said that because of the Smoke Free Indoor Act, which bans smoking in certain places, more and more people are turning to smokeless tobacco.

Some of those are teen-agers, a group heavily targeted by tobacco companies. In fact, Bender was just barely a teen himself when he began using smokeless tobacco.

At 12, he began using “spit tobacco.” Also called smokeless tobacco, it’s usually sold in pouches or small round cans. Those cans often make distinctive fade marks on the back pockets of many user’s jeans.

Some people believe, like the 12-year-old Ricky and his parents did, that chewing tobacco is a safer way to get nicotine than smoking cigarettes.

Bender, who used to really enjoy his smokeless tobacco, said he’s living proof that’s not true. With a slight lisp and part of his face lost to cancer, he told the students that he hates it now.

And he hates the advertising, especially when it’s geared toward young teens as something glamorous that won’t hurt them.

He said it all begins with the phrase “smokeless tobacco.”

“Let’s call it what it is,” he said, holding up a green package that people can take to smoke free campuses, but not to ones that are tobacco free. “You put it in your mouth and then you spit.

“Smokeless tobacco makes it sound nice and neat and pretty and harmless, but it’s not.”

Bender told the students about “the biggest lie ever told, and I fell for it.” “It’s not harmless, like the ads in the ’70s said smokeless tobacco was,” he said. “Walt Garrison, who played football for the Dallas Cowboys and was a big star, was in an ad that said ‘Take a pinch instead of a puff’ and I fell for it.

“I thought I was safe because I was using smokeless tobacco instead of smoking cigarettes. I thought it was safer.

“I was wrong. At 26 I was diagnosed with cancer. I lost half of my jaw and one-third of my tongue. I’m lucky to be able to even talk.

“I’m lucky to even be alive right now.”

Tobacco kills about 6,000 people each year, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health. Many people would like to quit, but quitting can be hard.

That’s why people like Bender travel the country, telling their stories to young teens. They hope the teens will decide not to smoke or use smokeless tobacco — ever.

But for those who would like help quitting tobacco, there are places to go, places to call. One of those is the Pittsburg County Health Department. “We’re modeled after the Centers for Disease Control tobacco prevention guideliness,” Robyne Lindley, preventive medical consultant for the Tobacco Use Program, said.

Lindley can be reached at 423-1267. More information on Bender can be found at www.nosnuff.com.