Smokeless tobacco products do not appear to increase cancer risk, including oral cancer, according to a new study.
Researchers carried out an analysis of 89 studies from the U.S. and Scandinavia and found that, after adjusting for concurrent smoking, any effect of current U.S. products or Scandinavian snuff seems very limited (BMC Medicine, July 29, 2009).
"It is clear that any effect of smokeless tobacco on risk of cancer, if it exists at all, is quantitatively very much smaller than the known effects of smoking," said Peter Lee, of P.N. Lee Statistics and Computing, which conducted the analysis.
An increased risk of oropharyngeal cancer is evident most clearly for past smokeless tobacco use in the U.S. but not for Scandinavian snuff, while the effects of smokeless tobacco use on other cancers are not clearly demonstrated, the researchers concluded.
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