Tuesday, December 16, 2014

“For Smokers Only” Audiobook & Video Interview


If reading’s not your thing, you can now get the facts on smokeless tobacco and tobacco harm reduction via two new offerings – the audiobook version of my updated text, “For Smokers Only” (here) and a lively YouTube conversation on the issues with Darcy Compton, president of Mudjug (click on the video).

I started advocating for smokers to switch to vastly safer smokeless tobacco products some 20 years ago, when my research showed that health risks related to smokeless use were but a tiny fraction of those associated with smoking. 

My first journal articles caused an uproar.  A National Cancer Institute director called me “unethical” for suggesting that smokers switch, and I was attacked by outraged national dental associations and colleagues (here).  Their message was plain: do your research, but don’t tell smokers what I had discovered – that the claimed health risks of smokeless tobacco were largely fabricated, and the resulting misinformation was preventing smokers from considering a quitting option that worked. (My findings have since been widely duplicated and accepted.)

I resolved to devote my career to educating smokers about safer smoke-free products, and in 1995 I authored a book, “For Smokers Only: How Smokeless Tobacco Can Save Your Life.” 

Last year, my publisher released the ebook version, updated with a fresh chapter on e-cigarettes.  It’s available at Amazon (here), Barnes and Noble (here) and ITunes (here).  Now he’s issued the audiobook version, downloadable at Audible.com (here).

Darcy Compton, California manufacturer of Mudjug portable spittoons (here), has developed a global online following.  His YouTube review of “For Smokers Only” has attracted some 225,000 visitors (here).  Darcy and I recently sat down for a lengthy conversation on all aspects of smokeless tobacco use. 

I am indebted to Darcy and Mudjug for their vocal support of my scientific findings and groundbreaking work in tobacco harm reduction. 



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