Sports

Chewing Tobacco is often associated with athletes - baseball players, hockey players, rodeo riders, and soccer players.  In reality, 70% of Major League Baseball Players do not use chewing tobacco.  Many famous athletes such as baseball player Sammy Sosa, and skateboarder Tony Hawk choose not only to stay away from chewing tobacco, but encourage others to do so as well. 

The myth was … that using chewing tobacco improves your concentration and overall sports performance, and that it is less harmful to your health than smoking cigarettes. 

The truth is … that no connection has even been made between using chewing tobacco and players’ performance.  If anything, the increase in heart rate and blood pressure caused by using chewing tobacco could hurt a players’ performance by slowing them down and making them dizzy.  Chewing tobacco is definitely not less harmful than smoking.  Chewing tobacco contains carcinogens that act on your lips, mouth, tongue and throat to cause cancer.

For more information and to read Rick Bender's story – check out this link
www.tobaccofacts.org/tob_truth/spit.html