A proposed ban on the use of smokeless tobacco in Boston’s ballparks and athletic fields is aimed at protecting the health of the professional athletes who use it as well as impressionable young people who often want to emulate the behavior of their sports heroes.
Mayor Martin Walsh announced on August 5, 2015 that he would file an ordinance with the Boston City Council to ban smokeless tobacco and other tobacco products at sites for professional, collegiate, high school, or organized amateur sporting events, and at any other competitive athletic events organized by leagues or associations. Breaking the ban, which would go into effect April 1, 2016 if approved, would result in a $250 fine.
Although cigarette smoking is prohibited or restricted in all Major League Baseball parks, players, coaches, and others in the baseball world still use smokeless tobacco. But the “chew” or “dip,” as it’s also known, contains at least 28 carcinogens and causes oral, pancreatic, and esophageal cancer, as well as other health problems such as heart disease, gum disease, tooth decay, and mouth lesions, according to an editorial in the August 5, 2015 Boston Globe by Howard Koh, Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and former Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Alan Woodward, former president of the Massachusetts Medical Society and chair of Tobacco Free Mass.
They noted that Babe Ruth died at age 53 of throat cancer after decades of dipping and chewing; Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn died last year at age 54 from salivary gland cancer; and former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling was treated last year for oral cancer. And they pointed out that even as cigarette smoking has decreased nationwide, the rate of smokeless tobacco use among youth has remained high, propelled by hefty advertising from smokeless tobacco companies.
“For too long, the tobacco industry has normalized and glamorized products that cause drug dependence, disability, and death,” Koh and Woodward wrote. “Leveraging the prestige and appeal of baseball has been an essential part of that strategy. It’s time for baseball to start a new chapter that reclaims tobacco-free parks as the new norm—and for Boston, home to so many sports achievements, to lead the way.”
Read the Boston Globe editorial: Baseball and tobacco are a deadly mix
Read a Boston Globe article about the proposed smokeless tobacco ban: Ban on chewing tobacco sought for Fenway, city parks
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Learn more
Death of baseballer Tony Gwynn highlights dangers of smokeless tobacco (Harvard Chan School news)
Smokeless tobacco products designed to attract the young (Harvard Chan School news)