Are Bidis and American Spirit “Natural” Cigarettes a Safe Alternative?
By Dr. Ginger Marable, Absolutely

Sales have recently doubled for the fastest growing fad among young smokers, the bidi. Widely available in the US for about $2 per pack, even in health food stores, the bidi is marketed as a natural alternative to cigarettes with no harmful additives. Known as “the poor person’s cigarette,” bidis are made in India and Southeast Asia from flakes and powder of cheap, dark unprocessed tobacco, hand-rolled in an unfiltered, non-porous tendu leaf, then baked and tied with a thread, looking like a marijuana joint. They are strongly flavored with clove, cinnamon, menthol, mint, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, mango, grape, root beer or other candy, herbal and fruit flavors to appeal to youngsters. Between 13 and 60 percent of American pre-teens and high school students have tried them.

Here’s the problem: The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) has concluded that bidis pose a more dangerous health risk than conventional cigarettes. The Centers for Disease Control have found that bidis have three times more nicotine and carbon dioxide and five times more tar than American cigarettes, and that smokers are at two times the risk of lung and oral cancers, among others, and five times the risk of heart disease. The bone growth of youngsters who smoke bidis is shortened and pregnant women who smoke bidis are in danger of promoting fetal death. The flavoring concentrations produce toxic compounds 7500 times greater than those in American cigarettes.
           
The 700 trillion bidis sold annually are mostly produced by hundreds of thousands of women and children in sweatshops, where they roll up to 2000 in a 14-hour day for about $18 a month. Workers suffer from tuberculosis, asthma, chromosome and skin damage, and a high death rate.
           
Federal regulations require the Surgeon General’s warning on the pack, along with the federal tax stamp, but not all packages are in compliance. It is also illegal to sell bidis to minors, and several states have made bidis illegal, although they are readily available to youngsters over the Internet.
           
Whereas bidis are cheaper than regular cigarettes, American Spirits are generally more expensive. Manufactured in the US by the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, a subsidiary of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company—that makes Camels, Winstons, Kools, and others— American Spirit cigarettes are marketed as “100 percent additive free,” leading smokers to believe that these are “safe” cigarettes. But the FTC forced the company to admit that American Spirits are as dangerous as other cigarettes, and to claim, “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette.” In a trial, NIDA confirmed that smokers of American Spirits took more puffs, smoked longer, and had higher nicotine levels in the blood than with either conventional cigarettes or bidis, even an hour later—definitely NOT a safe alternative. The only safe alternative is not to smoke at all.

Ginger Marable, owner of Absolutely Smoke Free—1 Hour!, holds the PhD in Human
Behavior and is a Certified Hypnotherapist/Smoking Cessation Specialist. 

If a smoker is motivated, s/he can quit smoking forever in about an hour with advanced, personalized hypnotherapy. More information is available at www.AbsolutelySmokeFree.com, or call 760-420-2279 for a free consultation.