The segment of smokeless tobacco products occupies only 2% of U.S. tobacco market; but these products, among which are snuff, snus, and dipping tobacco, triggered heated discussions across the nation related to the effects of their use.

Supporters of these products state smokeless tobacco could save many people who pass away each year due to lung cancer and other incurable diseases caused by cigarette smoking. They also say smokeless tobacco is a great alternative for people who are willing to consume tobacco, but eager to get rid of hazardous tobacco smoke.

Critics of smokeless tobacco claim these products are a huge hazard to public health similar to cigarettes, they increase risks of developing oral cancers, and as well can cause nicotine poisoning in children. However, these risks seem to be enormously overblown, especially when comparing with cigarette smoking, which is much more likely to cause severe health complications than smokeless tobacco.

Opponents of smokeless tobacco now urge the American Food and Drug Administration to examine the effect of these products on public health and regulate them accordingly to the results of their researches.

The heated debates over smokeless tobacco reached Congress last week, when a member of National Cancer Institute told Congressmen that smokeless tobacco could increase the risk of oral cancer by as much as 50 times. However, Prof. Brad Rodu, head of Department of Oncology at the University of Louisville, said that the numbers cited by some anti-tobacco advocates are based on the survey of users of dry snuff – smokeless tobacco inhaled through nose, and almost not used these days.

Other studies carried out recently were concentrated on other threats. For instance, a study published in the Pediatrics Journal found that smokeless tobacco was the second-largest cause of poisoning in infants, when they accidentally swallow these products.

Nevertheless, the research didn’t mention that chewable tobacco caused only three severe poisonings across the U.S. and no fatal incidents from 2005 to 2008.

So, many scientists believe that if nicotine could be used only in smoke-free forms, and replace cigarette smoking, it could save many lives, according to the Royal College of Physicians located in the United Kingdom and representing tobacco national advisory committee since 2007.

The major part of the available evidence on the effects of smokeless tobacco originates from Sweden. In this Northern-European country men gradually reduced cigarette consumption and boosted the consumption of snus, dissolvable tobacco that needs no spitting, in a move that started in the 1970s. While Sweden was home two one of the highest rates of lung-cancer fatalities in the late 1960s, since that time, the death rate has dropped to become the lowest across the European Union.

And exactly this fact is the primary basis for statements that smokeless tobacco products could bring huge benefit for public health. However, even the supporters of smokeless tobacco admit more research needs to be carried out.

Some scientists say they once committed a huge mistake by allowing smokers to prefer lower-tar cigarettes, in assumption that they were safer than cigarettes with higher amount of tar. So, they don’t want to make another mistake worth of millions of lives.