Tony Gwynn, 54, smokeless tobacco user

[Bob Of Burleson]

Tony Gwynn's cancer:
How smokeless tobacco
can contribute to disease

By Loren Grush
FoxNews.com

Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn died at the age of 54 on Monday, following a long battle with salivary gland cancer.

Prior to being diagnosed, Gwynn had undergone three procedures to remove noncancerous lesions from his parotid gland, one of the major salivary glands located in front of and just below each ear. On numerous occasions, Gwynn had attributed his cancer to having dipped tobacco throughout most of his career.

But does the science back up that claim?

When it comes to the origins of most cancers, many experts are hesitant to attribute the development of tumors to one cause in particular. However, numerous studies and anecdotal evidence have exhibited a strong association between chewing tobacco and an increased risk of cancers in the oral cavity.

For one thing, the tobacco itself contains various chemicals and carcinogens that can damage tissue it comes in contact with.

“Chewing tobacco, specifically snuff, actually has things like fiber glass that roughs up the mucous [membrane]; this is meant to aid the absorption of nicotine, but it also creates a more permeable place for carcinogens to enter the tissue,” Dr. Chad Zender, in the otolaryngology department at UH Case Medical Center, told FoxNews.com. “And just like tobacco smoke, tobacco itself has cancer-causing compounds in it. If you add it to things like alcohol, it works together synergistically.”

Additionally, a study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual meeting in 2012 revealed that a chemical found in smokeless tobacco called (S)-N'-nitrosonornicotine, or (S)-NNN, is a strong oral carcinogen. Some physicians have even noted that how a person chews tobacco can predict where subsequent cancer will develop.

“For several of my patients, if they chew tobacco on one point of the mouth, that is the part of the mouth that develops cancer,” Dr. Krzysztof Misiukiewicz, assistant professor of medical oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told FoxNews.com. “It’s proof that direct contact matters.”

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[planosteve]

I think that was what killed my grandfather who was a farmer and chewed tobacco. The doctor said he died of a "peculiar infection of his salivary glands". I expect they didn't want to say it was caused by chewing tobacco. Or they just didn't realize that tobacco could cause cancer then in the early 70's.