Hello,

I understand that "chewing tobacco" can cause oral cancer. Is this
directly related to the fiberglass? OR do the various chemicals within
the tobacco cause the cancer? I also understand that "chewing tobacco"
is a great drug delivery system for nicotine because the fiberglass
creates micro cuts in the buccal cavity making nicotine absorb very
well. My interest is in designing and using a fiberglass based
compound in a drug delivery system for OTHER drugs. (without the
tobacco, of course)

So my question is: Would it be safe to administer a fiberglass wad in
the mouth? Please note: this question is NOT about the safety of
"chewing tobacco" but about the safety of administering an isolated
fiberglass compound in the mouth. Any information that you can pull up
about Transbuccal delivery via fiberglass would be very helpful.
Thanks.  ?Eric

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 10 Aug 2005 07:18 PDT

epotratz-ga,

I haven't seen anything to suggest that the fiberglass-additive story
is really true, and I've seen one reference to it as an "urban
legend".

There are well-established procedures for increasing transbuccal
adsorption, however, such as adjusting the pH of a product, or adding
certain chemicals.

Are these non-fiberglass options of interest to you at all?  

I wouldn't bank on finding any solid information on fiberglass, as I
really don't think it is being used as an additive.


pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by epotratz-ga on 10 Aug 2005 10:53 PDT

pafalafa-ga,

I see a few links below about some more details of fiberglass in
chewing tobacco. Perhaps its considered an urban legend by people
because there are no ingredient list requirements with tobacco
products, hence never actually seeing ?fiberglass? listed??

To answer your question, yes I would be interested in alternative
buccal delivery methods. However, I?m specifically interested in a
?buccal depot? that could deliver a sustained release of a drug all
day hence the idea of a ?chew wad? that could be kept in the mouth.
[Im also reminded of nicorete gum] I wonder are there other abrasive
materials that are being used as an additive in current medical
medicine?

If not, then why? Are they not safe?  -Eric

Is there a website that mentions fiberglass in chewing tobacco?

Here are some websites:

http://www.yale.edu/uhs/departments/health_ed/tobacco.htm
http://notbuyinit.org/out_there/out_there1.html
http://www.quitsmokeless.org/dippingdanger.html