National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

October 27, 1997

Sports Sciences Newletter -- NCAA initiatives against spit tobacco continue to grow

As part of its effort to break the unhealthy link between smokeless tobacco and sports, the NCAA serves on the National Spit Tobacco Steering Committee along with other concerned organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Institute of Dental Research. This committee oversees the National Spit Tobacco Education Program (NSTEP) developed by Oral Health America through a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Led by its National Chairman, former Major League player Joe Garagiola, NSTEP's goal is to educate players, fans and the public about the dangerous and addictive properties of these products.

The NCAA is working with NSTEP to produce educational materials and distribute these at various NCAA-sponsored events. More than 2,000 posters and other educational materials were distributed to fans at this year's NCAA College World Series.

  • Fans at the College World Series were able to walk through an NSTEP interactive booth and learn the following facts about tobacco:

  • One out of three adolescents in the United States is using tobacco by age 18.

  • Smokeless tobacco use by adolescents is associated with early indicators of periodontal degeneration and with lesions in the oral soft tissue.

  • The risk of developing oral cancer for long-term spit tobacco users is 50 times greater than for nonusers.

    NCAA Sports Sciences also has produced two spit tobacco educational posters that were sent to member institutions in the spring and fall.

    For more information on the NCAA tobacco ban or posters, contact Beth Binkley, program coordinator for Sports Sciences, via internet at ebinkley@ncaa.org. For other tobacco-cessation and educational materials, call the National Cancer Institute at 1/800/4-CANCER.

    Young fans who visited the National Spit Tobacco Education Program booth received posters warning of the dangers of spit tobacco. More than 2,000 posters were distributed.