Parent Resource Center

Bidis. Kreteks. Dip. As a parent, you may not be familiar with these terms. But the odds are that your teenagers know them. They’re each a form of tobacco. And like cigarettes, they each pose a serious risk to your children.

While cigarette smoking among children and adolescents has decreased over the past ten years, not all tobacco products are following this trend. According to the 2005 Monitoring the Future national survey, nearly 8% of high school seniors reported using smokeless tobacco in the past 30 days. This rate has not declined substantially in the past several years.11. Johnston, L.D., O’Malley, P.M., Bachman, J.G., & Schulenberg, J.E. (2006). Monitoring the Future national results on adolescent drug use: Overview of Key Findings, 2005. (NIH Publication No. 06-5882). Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse. It’s also higher in some parts of the country than in others.22. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Surveillance Summaries, May 21, 2004. MMWR 2004; 53(No. SS-2).

Parents should be concerned about kids who are experimenting with other forms of tobacco, including snuff, chewing or “dip” tobacco, cigars, bidis (“bee-dees”– flavored, leaf-wrapped cigarettes from India) and kreteks (“kree-tex”– clove-flavored tobacco cigarettes).33. Tobacco Use, Access, and Exposure to Tobacco in Media Among Middle and High School Students – United States, 2004. MMWR 54(12):297-301, April 1, 2005. In fact, data show that many teens experiment with several of these.44. Gilpin, E.A. & Pierce, J.P. (2003). Concurrent use of tobacco products by California adolescents. Preventive Medicine, 36:575-584.

This means that it’s not enough simply to talk to your children about the dangers of smoking cigarettes. You should include all other tobacco products as well. Make sure that your kids don’t think that they are safer, less addictive or easier to quit than cigarettes. These forms of tobacco also contain nicotine and have serious health effects such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.55. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1986). The Health Consequences of Using Smokeless Tobacco: A Report of the Surgeon General. (NIH Publication No. 86-2874). Bethesda, MD: Public Health Service.,66. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tobacco information and prevention source (TIPS) fact sheet: Bidis and Kreteks. Retrieved April 19, 2006 from http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/factsheets/
bidisandkreteks.htm

TIPS FOR PARENTS

• Make your “No Tobacco” position clear to your children, and make sure it includes all tobacco products.
• Look for signs of tobacco use, such as the smell of smoke, burn holes, and packs of cigarettes, bidis or kreteks. Signs of smokeless tobacco use include bad breath, yellowish-brown stains on teeth, sores or white patches in the mouth, as well as discarded packaging.
• Talk to your child about what his or her friends are doing. Teenagers whose friends used smokeless tobacco are up to 11 times as likely to use it as teens whose friends don’t use smokeless tobacco.77. Goebel, L.J. et al. (2000). Correlates of youth smokeless tobacco use, Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 2:319-325.
• Don’t assume that being involved in athletics means that your child is less likely to use tobacco. While high school students who are involved in organized sports are less likely to smoke cigarettes, there are studies that indicate that they may be more likely to use smokeless tobacco.88. Melnick, M. et al. (2001). Tobacco Use Among High School Athletes and Nonathletes: Results of the 1997 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Adolescence. 36(144):727-747.
• Let your child know that all forms of tobacco products can have serious health risks. One recent survey of teenagers found that those who thought that bidis were safer than regular cigarettes were more than 7 times as likely to smoke compared with teens who did not think bidis were safer.99. Hrywana, M., Delnevo, C.D., Pevzner, E.S. & Abatemarco, D.J. (2004). Correlates of Bidi Use Among Youth. American Journal of Health Behavior. 28(2):173-179.   However, studies have shown that bidis deliver similar amounts of nicotine and carbon monoxide as regular cigarettes.1010. Malson, J.L., Lee, E.M., Moolchan, E.T. & Pickworth, W.B. (2002). Nicotine delivery from smoking bidis and an additive-free cigarette. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 4:485-490.
• If you use any form of tobacco, don’t let that stop you from talking to your children about not smoking and not using any tobacco products. Kids whose parents talk to them about not smoking are less likely to smoke – even if their parents smoke.1111. Jackson, C., & Henriksen, L. (1997). Do as I say: Parent smoking, antismoking socialization, and smoking onset among children. Addictive Behaviors, 22 (1), 107-114.
• It's important to talk to your kid about all risky behaviors including the use of other tobacco products. Here are some tips to start the conversation. More

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  www.cdc.gov/tobacco/factsheets/bidisandkreteks.htm
  www.cdc.gov/tobacco/factsheets/smokelesstobacco.htm
  www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/sgr_1994/index.htm
• National Spit Tobacco Education Program
  www.nstep.org/index.htm
• National Cancer Institute
  www.cancercontrol.cancer.gov/tcrb/index.html
• American Academy of Family Physicians
  familydoctor.org/177.xml
• Nemours Foundation
  kidshealth.org/teen/drug_alcohol/tobacco/smokeless.html

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Text in this section from: Preventing youth tobacco use (2006)

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