Report: NH youths turning to chew tobacco

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A new report looking at tobacco use in New Hampshire shows that youths may be smoking less, but are turning to chewing tobacco, instead, and that a number of pregnant woman are still smoking.

Dr. Jose Montero, New Hampshire’s director of public health services, said Tuesday that in addition to chewing tobacco, youths also are using bidis, small hand-rolled cigarettes that come from India. Montero says there’s a misconception that these types of tobacco aren’t as bad as using regular cigarettes.

The report also says that in 2005, 27 percent of New Hampshire women ages 18-44 smoked cigarettes. That year, the proportion of mothers aged 18-24 who smoked cigarettes during pregnancy remained higher than for mothers of other ages. Seventeen percent of New Hampshire women who gave birth in 2005 reported using tobacco while pregnant.

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