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Smokeless tobacco users are exposed to higher levels of some cancer-causing compounds found in tobacco than cigarette smokers, according to a University of Minnesota Cancer Center report.

In a study comparing 182 smokeless tobacco users with 420 cigarette smokers, the Minnesota researchers found that smokeless tobacco users were exposed to higher levels of a carcinogen—4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone—known to produce lung cancer as well as cancers of the pancreas, nasal mucosa and liver in laboratory animals.

"Smokeless tobacco products have been proposed by some as safer alternatives to cigarettes, but they are not safe," said author Stephen S. Hecht, Ph.D., professor of cancer prevention at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center. "The only likely safe alternative to smoking is the long term use of nicotine replacement therapy as a means to reduce dependence."

"In fact, this study lends evidence to support the notion that the oral use of tobacco actually provides a more efficient means for delivering certain carcinogens into the body through the bloodstream, although cigarette smoke includes a host of carcinogenic products that aren't a major factor in smokeless tobacco," Dr. Hecht added.

Full results of the study, which was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society, are published in the August issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

For more information about tobacco use and smoking cessation, visit www.ada.org/goto/quitsmoking.