http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/737840.stm Didn’t find anything about it in a forum search. I was curious others thoughts on the “findings”. To me it seems very unscientific and nothing more than a simple census analysis. Simple fact is they have no history to back up that snuff is the cause and quite simple the women on that reservation probably don’t do mamogram screenings as often as a typical WASP group of target group females. In other words I am having a hard time seeing a correlation of causality in data to findings. Ken
I’d be inclined to agree. Native Americans typically tend to be poor, have worse access to health care and education, and are also more prone to alcoholism and drug abuse, if I recall correctly. I think this is mostly another negative product of them having been forced on to reservations long ago, like the other issues I just mentioned.
Exactly. They represent the imprisoned few that survived the great American genocide. Ken
And now their cigarette business money is taken away.
America, practicing persecution since the pilgrims escaped it. Ken
Utterly useless. That is such a small sample. It’s insane that it’s consider even worthy of being published. The reason we know cigarettes cause lung cancer isn’t that a small percentage of smokers die more often from lung cancer but that everywhere in the world a large percentage of smokers get lung cancer compared to non-smokers. Even if this did have percentages that where high enough to mean anything (which it does not) all it could really definatly say is that for one group of native american woman snuff increases their chance of having breast cancer.
It also doesn’t point to the study, so I can’t tell whether they even bothered controlling for family history. Could be that these women have a history of it in their families. And as bob said, the sample is tiny, so valid statistical claims cannot be made from it. I bet if the anti-tobacco zealots start moving against nasal snuff, this will be one of the studies they cite, though.
The article also presumes (probably because it is British) that the snuff use is nasal. Nasal use of snuff is practically unknown in the USA. The people in question are almost certainly dipping scotch snuffs, which are rather high in TSNAs.
The study is called ‘Association between smokeless tobacco use and breast cancer among Native-American women in North Carolina.’ The abstract stresses that “These preliminary data are the first to document an apparent relationship between smokeless tobacco use and breast cancer risk, but should be confirmed in other studies due to the small number of cases.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11289249 A later study (‘Systematic review of the relation between smokeless tobacco and cancer in Europe and North America‘) refers to the above and concludes that: “A study in Cherokee women [125,126] which shows no association of breast cancer with ever ST use, with an odds ratio adjusted for age at diagnosis estimated as 1.24 (0.26–6.02), is not considered in Table 25 as the study is of cross-sectional design. It contributes little to the evidence.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2744672/ Now note the underlying suggestive thread in the BBC article. -------Premise 1. Native American women taking snuff are more likely to develop breast cancer -------Premise 2. Young women in the UK are now taking snuff -------(Implied) Conclusion - Young women in the UK are more likely to develop breast cancer because of snuff -------Remedial Action - tax snuff like cigarettes Compare the biased BBC with the following report on the same case, which states that - “He and his associates note that the findings need to be confirmed in other studies, because only five cases of younger-onset breast cancer were identified in this population, and the odds ratio for older-onset breast cancer was not significantly elevated among smokeless tobacco users.” http://www.oncolink.org/resources/article.cfm?c=3&s=8&ss=23&id=616&month=05&year=2000
The Lakota Pine Ridge reservation is the poorest community in the USA. A couple of years ago I ran into a web site that was selling a Native fellow’s art works to try and get hold of enough money just to buy wood stoves for the homes of some of the Elders. In my mind, unrestrained capitalism has a lot to answer for.
I am from Oklahoma, am part native american (Yuchi), and grew up in a small town that had a greater-than-average ratio of native americans. Never knew anyone who took snuff nasally. Almost everyone dipped or smoked cigarettes, but that was pretty much it. There were cans of Scotches to be found pretty easily, including in the smoke shops, but those were also used orally. I’m guessing Xander has it right - the article is assuming nasal use due to it’s country of origin vs how the term “snuff” is used to describe oral tobacco products in the USA.
Breast cancer is kind of becoming an epidemic all on its own. Plenty of nonsmoking even vegetarian and younger women have gotten itHere’s just one well known exampleand since more women are liable to get it than men: I think its safe to say there’s a correlation between breast cancer, and just being female
Vegitarianism won’t cut it, unless its veganism. In fact its not meat per se that is the problem maker. Breast Cancer Also, my uncle had breast cancer. Its not female exclusive.