Editor
Sep 7, 2012
Despite powerful opposition from a billion-dollar industry, India continues to make progress in banning gutka – a deadly form of chewing tobacco that is fueling the country’s oral cancer epidemic.
Continue reading India fights addictive “path to death”
Editor
Apr 4, 2012
Major League Baseball players who take the field tonight and tomorrow for the opening games of the 2012 season must do so without a tin of tobacco in their uniform pockets — one of the ground-breaking restrictions on smokeless tobacco included in the new contract.
Continue reading Baseball Season Opens Tonight with Historic Restrictions on Tobacco
Editor
Jan 30, 2012
States around the country are getting wise to the tobacco industry's promotion of products such as sweet-flavored cigars and smokeless tobacco as a way to hook kids and offset the decline in cigarette smoking: Increasingly, governors and lawmakers are proposing higher taxes on "other tobacco products" that too often have been left out when cigarette taxes are hiked.
Continue reading Tax Hikes Proposed on All Tobacco Products as States Seek to Close Loopholes, Thwart Industry
Editor
Jan 20, 2012
Brightly colored packages for products labeled "fresh," "wintergreen" and "java" just aren't what they seem, youth tobacco-control advocate Judy Hou says.
"They're these little packages that you can stick in your pocket," says Hou. "They look like Tic Tacs."
In fact, they're dissolvable tobacco products, and the subject of Food and Drug Administration hearings this week on whether these new smokeless products and the marketing used to promote them appeal to kids and pose a public health threat.
Continue reading Mints, Gum, Candy — or Tobacco?
Editor
Nov 22, 2011
Major League Baseball and the players' union have taken an historic first step toward getting tobacco out of the ballgame by placing significant limits on smokeless tobacco at the ballpark and whenever players are around fans.
Under the new contract agreement that MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association announced, whenever fans are at the ballpark, players, manager and coaches will no longer be able to carry a tobacco tin or package in their uniform pocket, or anywhere on their bodies.
Continue reading We Did It: New Baseball Contract Limits Smokeless Tobacco
Editor
Nov 11, 2011
Nearly 11,000 baseball fans and health advocates have sent an open letter to player representatives of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) urging players to agree to prohibit smokeless tobacco use at games and on camera.
Continue reading 11,000 Sign Open Letter Calling for Tobacco-Free Baseball
Editor
Nov 4, 2011
Two more members of Congress and Little League International have joined the drive to end smokeless tobacco use in Major League Baseball, urging big-league ballplayers to become better role models for the next generation of fans.
Continue reading House Members, Little League Join Call for Tobacco-Free Baseball
Editor
Oct 27, 2011
ABC World News Now reports on young baseball players who started chewing tobacco as teens and now can't break their addiction. Southern Baptist leader Dr. Richard Land and ESPN analyst Bobby Valentine tell the network that Major League Baseball must provide better role models.
Says Valentine: "The message is this–wise up! We have to put forth a better face, and that face has to be one without a bulge in our lip."
Continue reading World Series Resumes Tonight with Boost for Tobacco-Free Baseball
Editor
Oct 26, 2011
Newspaper editorials and sports columnists around the country are calling for the Major League Baseball players union to finally end the game's unseemly addiction to tobacco by agreeing to ban the use of smokeless tobacco in the next collective bargaining agreement.
Continue reading Bag the Chew, Snuff Out the Problem and Just Play Ball!
Editor
Oct 18, 2011
With the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals set to begin the 2011 World Series Wednesday night, four U.S. Senators called on the Major League Baseball Players Association to protect players' health and the well-being of millions of young fans by agreeing to a contractual ban on tobacco use at games.
Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct) urged in a letter to Players Association executive director Michael Weiner that the ban be effective in the 2012 baseball contract. The senators noted that the World Series is likely to be watched by an estimated 15 million viewers, many of them children.
Continue reading U.S. Senators Call for Tobacco-Free Baseball
Editor
Oct 10, 2011
The Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals can do more than make baseball history as they face off in the American and National League championship series.
The players can help break Major League Baseball's addiction to smokeless tobacco by voluntarily refraining from using tobacco during the high-profile playoff games, viewed by millions of kids in the United States and around the world.
Continue reading Baseball Playoffs Can Make History for Health
Editor
Sep 26, 2011
Millions of moviegoers who saw the Hollywood blockbuster "Moneyball," this weekend watched a multi-million dollar advertisement for getting tobacco out of Major League Baseball.
Brad Pitt plays Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane with tobacco tucked in his cheek, spitting repeatedly into a cup. Though Major League Baseball asked Sony Pictures to remove the scenes of tobacco use, the movie company says it kept them in for authenticity.
And that’s the problem.
Continue reading “Moneyball” is Blockbuster Reason to Get Tobacco Out of Baseball
Editor
Sep 16, 2011
Tobacco does not spare even Superman.
Shafique Sheikh, a 25-year old Indian actor, became a local celebrity playing Superman in a spoof of the popular superhero movies. In Sheikh's version of the film, Superman battled an evil "gutka king" who wants to flood the town with cheap, addictive chewing tobacco.
In real life, the former textile worker had begun using the local form of smokeless tobacco — gutka — at age eight, consuming as many as 40 packets daily until he was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous condition in his jaw when he was 18.
Continue reading Even Superman Succumbs to Tobacco
Editor
Aug 18, 2011
As the Little League World Series rolls along and Major League Baseball pennant races heat up, the Knock Tobacco Out of the Park coalition is hitting championship stride.
More than 120 national, state and local organizations — including baseball insiders, youth leagues and dozens of health groups — are urging the players union to agree to Commissioner Bud Selig's call for a ban. More are signing up every week.
Continue reading As MLB Season Heats Up, Campaign to Get Tobacco Out of Baseball Grows
Editor
Aug 1, 2011
Eleven-year-old Louie Lafakis has seen the unhealthy relationship between baseball and smokeless tobacco up close and personal. His father, John, started using it in high school, when his baseball teammates told him he wouldn't make the varsity squad if he didn't dip.
What started as a youthful effort to fit in turned into a harmful addiction for John Lafakis, who is now 44 and still has been unable to quit.
Continue reading Young Baseball Fan Makes a Great Play Against Smokeless Tobacco
Editor
Jul 11, 2011
Hundreds of fans, coaches, and families — as well as current players and baseball legends — at the MLB FanFest in Phoenix are joining the campaign to get Major League Baseball players to stop using smokeless tobacco at games and on camera, where their chewing and spitting creates the image that tobacco use is cool and athletic.
Continue reading Tobacco-Free Baseball a Big Hit at MLB FanFest
Editor
May 19, 2011
Arizona Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick makes a point each spring of speaking to his team about baseball's tradition as a family sport. And he’s worked closely with Arizona health officials on an extensive educational program — "the No Chew Crew" to teach elementary school children about the risks of smokeless tobacco.
Continue reading Another Voice Speaks Out Against Tobacco in Baseball
Editor
May 17, 2011
An all-star lineup of Major League Baseball notables including Brett Butler, a cancer survivor who played in the majors for 17 seasons, and ESPN analyst and former Mets manager Bobby Valentine, discuss the dangerous use of smokeless tobacco in baseball and its negative impact on young fans on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel tonight.
Continue reading “I Dip Because You Do”
Editor
Apr 11, 2011
The 21st-century version of the "light" and "low tar" ruse that kept smokers hooked despite their health concerns may well be the emergence of a new marketing strategy for smokeless tobacco that pushes these harmful products as an alternative to cigarettes.
A new study conducted by Legacy clearly documents a shift in smokeless tobacco magazine advertising away from a determined focus on men's sporting and leisure publications toward general-interest magazines aimed at a much broader market. The industry is increasingly pushing flavored products — which could influence kids to start using smokeless tobacco. And it's trying to attract smokers who are restricted from lighting up due to the success of smoke-free air policies — when the best step they could take for their health is to quit.
Continue reading Smokeless Tobacco Ads Push Flavored Products and Target Current Smokers
Editor
Apr 1, 2011
Thanks to Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, who has just stated his view that "smokeless tobacco should be banned at the Major League level" and that MLB will propose such restrictions in contract talks with the players' union.
Continue reading Update: MLB Commissioner Wants Smokeless Tobacco Out of Baseball
Editor
Mar 31, 2011
Baseball's Opening Day has started with a burst of energy, excitement and momentum in the campaign to get smokeless tobacco out of the ballgame.
Continue reading ESPN Analyst, ex-Mets Manager Bobby Valentine Urges Tobacco Ban in Major Leagues
Editor
Mar 29, 2011
The movement to get tobacco out of Major League Baseball is gaining momentum.
Top public health officials from coast to coast — representing a majority of cities where Major League Baseball is played — have joined in asking MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and Michael Weiner, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, to prohibit use of tobacco by players, coaches and other baseball staff at games.
Continue reading Health Officials in Major League Cities Want Tobacco-Free Baseball
Editor
Mar 4, 2011
Leading newspapers around the country have joined the call for Major League Baseball and the players union to prohibit the use of smokeless tobacco at games.
In recent weeks, the Philadelphia Inquirer (hometown paper to the Phillies), the San Diego Union-Tribune (Padres) and the Star-Ledger of New Jersey (Yankees or Mets—you make the call!) have all spoken out in support of a ban.
Continue reading Key Newspapers Call for Major Leagues to Get Tobacco Out of Baseball
Editor
Feb 28, 2011
The tobacco companies claim they've changed and are now responsible corporate citizens. All the while, they continue to market to kids, deceive the public and fight proven measures to reduce tobacco use.
The proof is in recent headlines:
Continue reading The Big Tobacco Wolf Sheds Its Sheep’s Clothing
Editor
Feb 22, 2011
The Tampa Bay Rays will have to play the 2011 season to see if they're winners on the field again — but they're already champions in the growing movement to get smokeless tobacco out of Major League Baseball.
The 2010 American League East division winners took time out from spring training to talk to the Fox News affiliate in Tampa about their distaste for the widespread use of smokeless tobacco in Major League Baseball, and the desire of many on the team and among its fans to see baseball go tobacco-free.
Continue reading Tampa Bay Rays Show Winning Ways
Editor
Feb 15, 2011
With spring training for the 2011 season about to begin, two U.S. senators have formally called on Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association to prohibit the use of all tobacco products on the field, in the dugout and in locker rooms at MLB venues.
Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin of Illinois and Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey wrote to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and Michael Weiner, executive director of the Players Association, asking them to protect players and their young fans by finally ending the use of tobacco in baseball.
Continue reading It’s Time to Knock Tobacco Out of the Park
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By signing up, you may also get occasional alerts about opportunities to fight Big Tobacco nationally. (See Our Privacy Policy)
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