I’ve come across some interesting facts while reading through notes on Prof Phillips Griffiths Snuffs and Snufftaking. This might shed some light on the different warnings on snuff containers. South African snuffs are contained in either tins or plastic boxes with the warning pressed into the metal/plastic. Way back, when the snuff companies were forced to display such a warning, the EEC Council Directive 92/41/EEC demanded the words Causes Cancer. Later on, after much more research, they realised that the statement wasn’t true and it was changed to This tobacco product can damage your health and is addictive. Now, my guess is that the cost involved to change the wording on the SA products were to high. The pressing machines would have to be altered, so the guys just never bothered to do it. And that’s why our snuffs are still poisonous!! Another possibility is that our government do not know about the change yet. The change was only made about 9 years ago, so they might still catch up.

South African snuff warnings still say ‘causes cancer’? Thats a pain… It must be harder to get people to switch from cigarettes to snuff as they’ll just think “They both cause cancer so I might as well stay on the cigs”

The warning on Taxi tins is just part of the sticker, could be easily changed. It’s almost humorous in the way it reads, like it’s a guarantee, it simply “causes cancer”, no doubt about it, plain and simple, it’s going to cause it.

Cancer isn’t so bad in the S.A. In fact the companies are spreading rumours that cancer is highly contagious. That way snuffing in public will lower car jacking percentages dramaticly. Don’t forget you heard it hear first.

LOL! NICE!

bob, you made my day!!! LOL

Now you know why you still have your car. Though maybe you could sell a home lypresy kit that makes you look contagious. Even could cover parts of the car interior with fake puss. Just a thought.

Fale puss, hhmmmmmmm.

bob, we have found a solution to avoid being hi jacked !! At every major road crossing in SA, you will find dozens of jobless guys waiting to be picked up for a days work. If one wants to move something heavy, for instance, you go to the nearest crossing and collect some “workers”. Almost all of these guys have the looks of the tipical hi jacker but they are to lazy or to scared to do that. So, what we do now, when ever we have to drive through a dangerous area, we pick up one of these guys to ride up front with us (works very well for the ladies especially). You “arm” him with a broomstick, looks like the barrel of a gun. Now, when you go past a real hi jacker, he will leave you alone because he reckons you’ve been hi jacked already!!! 'n Boer maak 'n plan. (A farmer makes a plan) Cheers

Sounds pretty tough. A collegue of mine was seconded to the SA police in the days of apartheid. They followed a black guy in a stolen car, well out of town, pulled him over, shot him dead, had the car recovered and that was the end of it. Makes East London seems very tame.

Yeah times seem very interesting in S.A. Right now. It’s got a lot of potential and a lot of growth happening. And a lot of it’s past to deal with. Its definatly the place where an investor with a lot of balls stands to either make a lot of growth or shot themselves in the foot. Pretty chaotic. Well that’s the state of the world constintly crazy. Lets all just hope we get to enjoy the craziness in our pockets of the world.

I went to the doctor the other day, turns out I had a lymph node infection. But he asked if I took tobacco and I told him I take nasal snuff quite regularly - we ended up having a long talk about it and he was quite insistent that nasal snuff can cause cancer, still. Do you guys know of any reported cases of cancer via nasal snuff? I’ve heard of none.

@saucy_jack: If there exists a documented case of nasal snuff causing cancer, no one has brought it to light. If your doctor is so insistent upon this “fact,” then demand that he back up his claims. Most doctors think TOBACCO = CANCER; NO DEBATE. It is like trying to reason with a fundamentalist Christian. However, I do go to a very reasonable dentist who is interested in actually learning the scientific truth. He recommends snus and nasal snuff to his patients who smoke and wish to quit. He even thanked me for clarifying the difference between Swedish snus and American “snus.” He now explains this difference to his patients and recommends Swedish snus. I also showed him the Toque website, and he said that he will refer people to that as a viable alternative to smoking.

Last time I went to a doctor his only issues with snus where that it’s addictive and that it would increase the chances of more minor diseases. He even said that american chew probably wouldn’t cause me any major problems.

I went to a Nose and Throat specialist last year to have a vein in my nose cauterized (a defect I was born with) and he didn’t say a thing about my snuff usage. My regular doctor is far more concerned with my weight and the maybe 3 or 4 cigarettes I smoke a month than my daily snuff usage. Glad to see that other doctors are “enlightened” too.

Oh wow! That’s rather shocking. One would think that something like would have been changed since it would seem members of the EU are forced to quickly change everything else to what it should be.

Were they inveterate snuffers?

:0 Only the homemade ones (not NTSU or Taxi)?

You must just keep in mind that the African natives are uneducated and wild. They do things you won’t believe. My grandma had a guy working for her. One of Granny’s chickens died of some unknown disease while this guy was away for a while. Grandma buried the dead chicken. When the old chap returned, he “enquired” about the missing chicken. When grandma told him it has died and was buried, he was grossly upset. He immediately retrieved the chicken from it’s burial place and set forth to make himself one delicious meal. That was after the chicken has been buried for 4 days. When a baby is born, the parents must kill a white goat to keep the evil spirits away from this child. They dig a hole in the ground, line it with goat skin and cut an artery in the goats neck while holding it down over the “pit”. They then share the blood with everyone present, drinking it out of goat’s horns. They then chop up the goat with axes and have a nice “barbeque”. This “party” starts as soon as the sun sets. All the meat must be finished before the sun rises again. We also found a petrol drum with some home made beer, hidden away in some bushes. We emptied the drum and found, on the bottom of this concoction, some torch batteries. They believe it makes the beer more potent. When an African native boy turns about 18, he must be circumcised by an elder to become a man. Every year a lot of them die because of being “operated” on by sangomas using filthy pangas. So, don’t worry about African made snuffs. It won’t give you cancer. It will kill you before you reach that stage.

Filek, in that report, weren’t there some issues with heavy metals in the soils? Or something in the snuff itself? I think some of this I read on that New Zealand snuff promotional site. In any case, they came to the conlcusion that the tobacco by itself could not by directly linked to the cancers, as there were other poisons involved. At least that’s what I remember. If you have the source, you can confirm.

“They followed a black guy in a stolen car, well out of town, pulled him over, shot him dead…” “African natives are uneducated and wild…” Hmmm… wondering if my time is better spent elsewhere?

Well, he lives there. If one can prove the things he said are untrue, I’d be fine to hear it. But I have seen enough documentaries, about the albino killings, and ideas regarding rape, and female circumcision, as well as the state of affairs in Zambawai, and SA, I tend to believe more info from one who lives there. Now of course, I am sure there are civilized and well to do, and educated black Africans as well. But that post was about the natives, and tribal practices.

Um…No thanks Tom502. I can’t see how spending anymore time on this forum, where major posters need proof that the above comments are unacceptable, is in any way worth it for me. Good Luck Folks.

I just don’t see how they are “unacceptable”. It was on topic, and one persons view of it, as one who lives there. The posters also never mentioned any approval of these things, just telling their stories.

Those stories sound like urban legends though.

Personaly I can actualy safely say I see both sides. In fact I think a lot of it has to do with what is not said. Leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Hell If I didn’t know a lot else that pieter has said or a bit about the situations in South Africa I’d definatly wonder, especaily since people who know not to say certain things in public they’ll often test the waters in a forum slowly you see that enough times it doesn’t become hard to expect the worst. I mean you do have to admit it doesn’t look that great. Imagine getting enough shit from enough people about one thing or even just seeing it enough, of course we are talking serious shit not minor shit, why even bother with getting more. I personaly don’t think that pieter or snuffster are being racist or bigoted or more accuratly that they are. Though if these where the some of the early things I’d read from them my alarms very well may go off. Just saying I can see both sides of this.

Also, understand that apartheid in South Africa ended only sixteen years ago. It has taken America some generations to mitigate racism. A lot of the world suffers such an insult on humankind still. Please let us share our diversity, we have so much to gain. So much to lose, otherwise.

Some of our members missed the point completely. It was stated that in 1994 two African guys were diagnosed with nasal cancer. This is, to me, very serious because all of us believe that snuff does not cause cancer. Lots of our members love SA snuffs but here we have 2 cases where some doubt is cast over the quality of SA snuffs. You can rest assured that the snuff which you buy from SA was made by Europeans and that it’s safe for human consumption. What I did is to show members the difference between Europeans (living in Africa) and African natives. If you would like to hear some more, like the 63 murders EVERY day, guys who rape 3 month old babies because they believe it will cure their aids etc., I will gladly give you more. Just let me know please.

I believe that difference “between Europeans (living in Africa) and the African natives.” is what is most upsetting sir.

Apartheid is alive and well in South Africa and so is racism. Only difference is, now the ANC (black) government is the culprit!! We killed apartheid and they resurrected it. Since they took over 16 years ago, 3,673 white farmers were murdered by native Africans. And I’m only talking about farmers now. As I’ve already said, on average 63 people are murder per day. It’s your guess who the murderers are. If anyone of the moderators wants me to delete any of my posts, I will do so immediately. I was only trying to show the difference between commercially produced SA snuff and the concoctions some Africans stuff up their noses.

Ya, I imagine that would be disturbing if your country that your ancestors founded and built, was turned on its ear because of political scrutiny from the U.N (United States Nation). Then even more disturbing would be a much more oppressive regime taking over, making you a second class citizen, allowed to call you whatever they want, a ridiculous employment and social assistance disparity. Then to top it all off they sing a song with some rubbish instruments about killing you and your family(Boers) IN PARLIAMENT. The thing that must be lacking in SA is something called a 2 way street. I’ll take a snuff for all the repressed in SA now, cha cha cha cheers.

Could we cut the political tones please and get back to snuff & cancer. Already one member has said he’s leaving this forum.

Nicotine has not been found to be carcinogenic.

Death of a South African City http://deathofjohannesburg.blogspot.com/

Pieter (and anyone else), Unfortunately, painfully, it really does happen, all over and everywhere, and when it does, it hurts.Death of Detroitmore Death of Detroitstill more Death of Detroit"Welcome to Detroit City"

I’m probably gonna die of a heart-attack due to my diet than of tobacco related cancer though. “thank god for high-test coffee!!!”

For the record, my comment about the SA police shooting someone was about how sickening their behaviour was - I didn’t state that out loud because the facts, as relayed to me many years ago, speak for themselves. I’m sorry if it appeared otherwise.

I really don’t think it’s your fault. It was taken the wrong way and I would say it’s probably not wildhorsesmanes fault either. More of a blatant comment on how f-ed up things can be still.

Bob, you remain a sane and decent voice on a site I hardly care to be anymore.

Uh,…Snuffster, you just said Bob and sane in the same sentence!!

Forgive me, I was rambling.

I’am one of the sanest crazy people I know. I not really kidding either. Well off to find a box of money so my girlfriend doesn’t have to worry too much. :). I’d have started with a thank you but I feel shy at the moment and tired too.

*nabbing some of Bob’s sanity and stealing away with it* (MUHAHAHAA)

You maybe onto something! Your statement seems to really be having a strong effect on my sanity right now. In a you just smooshed my brain a little bit.