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Ask Dr. Sue
BIDIS - HAZARDS OF FLAVORED CIGARETTES
Dear Dr. Sue,
I've heard just a little about something called bidis,
first on television, and then mentioned in a Daily News
article recently. But I still don't really know
what they are. Can you
fill me in? Are they being used by kids in our
area?
Dear Mom,
Bidis are sweetened, flavored cigarettes
that are imported from India, that are sometimes
described as being natural, herbal and safe. THEY
ARE NOT! They actually contain greater amounts of
tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide than regular
cigarettes do. They also contain more phenol,
ammonia, nitrosamines and hydrogen cyanide, all
dangerous chemicals. They come flavored
in an array of "attractive to children" flavors,
including cinnamon, mango, orange, chocolate,
watermelon, raspberry, and vanilla. Some young
girls say they like them because they don't
make their breath smell bad, like regular cigarettes do.
Some young guys like the fact that they slightly
resemble a marijuana cigarette, since they are rolled in
a leaf rather than machine-pressed
into cigarette papers; they feel "cool" smoking them.
Both like the fact that they often sell for less than
other cigarettes. (Bidis are cheap largely because
they are hand-rolled by women and children in third
world countries who are paid almost nothing, and who
also suffer the alarming health risks of bidis just by
inhaling the dust involved in their production.)
Because the bidis are wrapped in leaves instead of
paper, they require the smoker to inhale more deeply to
keep them lit.
Studies done in the Seattle area suggest that bidi
smoking is becoming a significant problem in Washington,
though we haven't caught up in use with some urban areas
of the country, like San
Francisco and certain east coast cities. In the
Seattle area, both urban and suburban, most teens and
young adults interviewed had either tried bidis or had
friends who had tried them.
Dangers of bidi smoking include all of the dangers of
cigarette smoking, including nicotine addiction, cancer
of the mouth, throat, stomach and lungs, heart disease,
high blood pressure and chronic respiratory symptoms
like bronchitis. Smoking bidis regularly during
adolescence has also been shown to decrease final adult
height by speeding up the closure of growth plates in
the bones.
There is growing awareness of the appeal of these
cigarettes and the risk they represent to our youth
across the country. The Food and Drug
Administration and the Federal Trade Commission
are currently looking into their sale (often without the
health warnings required on regular packs of
cigarettes). Agencies throughout the country,
including the American Academy of Pediatrics, Oral
Health America, The Public Health Department, the
National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Center for Disease
Control and Prevention's Office of Smoking and Health,
have expressed their dismay at
the sale of these tobacco products, clearly intended for
purchase by young people.
I do not know how common bidi smoking is in the
Longview/Kelso area, but let's not wait for it to become
prevalent, if it isn't already. Talk to your teens
NOW about how deadly these cute,
sweet-smelling cigarettes are.
Much information presented in this article was obtained
via ASH, (Action on Smoking and Health), a 31 year old
national legal-action antismoking and nonsmokers' rights
organization.
 
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