Major League Baseball is airing a public service
announcement with retired pitcher Curt Schilling claiming “I have oral cancer” and
linking that condition to his long-term use of chewing tobacco (here). The 60-second spot, produced by MLB and the
Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society, will be shown in baseball
stadiums and on the MLB Network.
The PSA, however well-intentioned, is unsubstantiated and
grossly misleading. Schilling and MLB squander a chance to impress adults and
youths about the hazards of smoking, alcohol and human papillomaviruses (HPVs, sexually-transmitted
viruses causing throat cancer and cervical cancer in women) and instead
perpetuate smokeless tobacco myths.
Schilling has been blaming smokeless for his cancer for two
years, but neither he nor his doctors have presented any evidence to support
the claim and there is, in fact, good reason to question its accuracy.
Mouth cancer is extremely rare. The most common risk factor is smoking, which
can increase chances ten-fold. Smokers
who drink alcohol are at even higher risk, and alcohol abuse alone raises the
odds about four-fold. Another
significant cause of tongue and throat cancer is HPVs (here).
While Schilling attributes his cancer to chewing tobacco,
one’s odds of developing mouth cancer from this habit are about the same as those
for a person who neither smokes, drinks nor has an HPV infection – roughly one
or two in 100,000.
One should ask: Did Schilling actually have mouth
cancer? It’s highly unlikely. He says his cancer was discovered after he
found a lump in his neck. This indicates
that it was almost certainly located in his throat and that it had already spread
to a lymph node.
Throat cancer is not associated with smokeless tobacco use. It is, however, strongly linked to smoking,
heavy alcohol use and infection with HPV.
The MLB is irresponsible in airing a PSA based on the mere
(and likely misguided) opinion of a layman.
Public health campaigns should be founded on verified medical and scientific
information.
1 comment:
Mr. Shilling's diagnosis is unfortunate, but using it to make unfounded public service announcements is a disaster for tobacco users. Let's not lose sight of the primary goal: helping current smokers lead longer, healthier lives, even if they still enjoy tobacco. Please correct me if I am wrong, THR is not about anyone starting to use a tobacco product. In fact THR proponents urge smokers to abstain if able, but also to switch to a smoke-free tobacco product like suns, e-cigarettes, or American moist snuff if unwilling to quit altogether. Dr. Rodu, with all your experience as both a dentist and an oral pathologist, does the science support the claim that smokeless tobacco causes oral cancer? I think this is another attempt to gain compliance through fear while ignoring the abundant data and science about safer products. It would be interesting to see the annual medical costs both to patient's and the health care system for smoking related diseases verses the medical costs for smokeless tobacco users. The importance of tobacco harm reduction cannot be overstated. This program not only saves money for smokers, but saves their lives as well.
-F. Chambers
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