Research finds that smokeless tobacco is addictive and causes cancer. The American Legacy Foundation^® is dedicated to helping communities curb the use of all forms of tobacco addiction. While not as visible as cigarettes, smokeless tobacco use is a serious public health problem across the country, especially in rural communities.

Recent studies have even shown a rise in youth usage rates. In 2004, 11% of male high school students were current users of spit tobacco.

Legacy has funded several grantees that are making a difference in stamping out the use of smokeless tobacco. The Public Health Institute, based in California, is one of those grantees.

When Legacy first funded the Public Health Institute's Tobacco-Free Rodeo Project (TFRP) (www.bucktobacco.org) the plan was simple: build a network of advocates concerned about the overwhelming influence of the spit tobacco industry in rodeo - a traditionally family-oriented event. The Institute seeks to break the ties between tobacco companies and rodeos in order to put an end to the advertising of tobacco products at family-oriented sporting events.

The project staff not only exceeded its goal to bring together 60 participants in a national tobacco-free rodeo alliance, it also helped create four additional programs in states where rodeo is popular -- Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and California - engaging with state and local departments of health that understand the health threat that spit tobacco presents. Local tobacco control advocates around the country are now focused on establishing policies to restrict tobacco sponsorship of family rodeo events. In New Mexico, the Casper Baca Rough Stock Rodeo Series adopted a written policy rejecting tobacco sponsorship in 2007; and in California, the California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees has made a verbal, public commitment to a policy banning all tobacco advertising at rodeos on CSU campuses. California contractors are continuing their work to publicize and enforce the policy. Significant protests, formerly sporadic, are now a formidable presence at family rodeo events.

TFRP is conducting ongoing efforts to convince rodeo organizers to adopt written policies to restrict tobacco marketing, tobacco use, outdoor advertising on billboards and scoreboards, and product sampling. TFRP considers these actions important steps in reducing tobacco marketing to rural youth and young adults. Men and young boys in rural areas are the groups most at risk for smokeless tobacco use, and the United States Smokeless Tobacco Company (USSTC), the leading producer and marketer of smokeless tobacco reaches these populations through its marketing at rodeo events. Indeed, USSTC recently stated its goal of "focusing on expanding the scope and breadth of the company's commitment to ProRodeo."⁵

Buck Tobacco has built organizational capacity to bring folks to the table, literally and figuratively, to create a response structure to combat the smokeless tobacco industry tactics.

For example, TFRP obtained the public support of Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) champion Wiley Petersen, a native of Nampa, Idaho. Through funds obtained outside the TFRP by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare's Project Filter, they negotiated a paid sponsorship with Wiley, who removed his USSTC vest patch and replaced it with one that read "Project Filter: Idaho Fights Tobacco … that's no bull" at all of the bull riding events in which he participated in 2007. Idaho project staff worked hard at developing their relationship with Wiley, and Wiley's support has grown for the national movement to restrict tobacco sponsorship of rodeos. Before Wiley, it was unheard of for a professional cowboy to publicly reject tobacco industry sponsorship. Idaho's work to bring Wiley in as a spokesperson supporting the rejection of tobacco sponsorship will almost certainly make it easier for other professional cowboys to do the same.

Buck Tobacco has also been successful in finding matching funds from other entities and foundations to support its efforts. Partners and sponsors of the Buck Tobacco project include: the National Tobacco-Free Rodeo Project, the California Statewide Buck Tobacco Sponsorship Project, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Tobacco Policy Change program.

The American Legacy Foundation^®'s efforts to stop the use of spit and other forms of smokeless tobacco go beyond grants to individual organizations. The foundation is the lead sponsor of the Fourth National Summit on Smokeless and Spit Tobacco to be held in Oklahoma City from March 4-6. The meeting will convene a wide variety of community leaders, clinicians and youth activists, among them representatives of the TFRP. For more details on the conference, please visit www.okcspitsummit.org.

Health Effects of Smokeless Tobacco -

• Smokeless tobacco is associated with an increased risk of oral cancer, particularly for the tissues that come in contact with tobacco.¹
  
  
• Long-term smokeless tobacco users may be nearly 50 times more likely to have cancers of the cheek and gum than non-users.¹
  
  
• Nicotine is absorbed into the bloodstream more slowly with smokeless tobacco than with cigarettes, but it continues to be absorbed more even after tobacco has been removed from the mouth.¹
  
  
• Americans age 18 to 25 have the highest rates of any type of tobacco use. ²
  
  
• Smokeless tobacco companies' yearly spending on advertising and promotion went up from $80 million in 1985 to $250 million in 2005 (the last year with that information available).³