Tobacco products are usually associated with lung issues,
cancer, and perhaps even damaged teeth, but rarely are these products correlated
to microbial communities. Tobacco products are not exempt from the exposure to
microbes during their processing and manufacturing stages. A study done by Han
and colleagues focused on identifying the bacteria present in several smokeless
tobacco products to further investigate the potential health risks associated
with these microbes. Within the species of bacteria found, there are several
that can lead to opportunistic infections and to carcinogenic by-products. Additionally,
it was concluded that there is a higher number and diversity of microbial communities
in moist finely ground tobacco. Unfortunately, the knowledge on the potential
risks of smokeless tobacco products related to bacteria is very limited, despite
it being a serious concern. The use of smokeless tobacco products already has many
known health risks, making it absurd that there are additional risks related to
microbes that could be avoided if more studies were conducted and regulations
were established.
Original Article:
Jing H, Yasser MS,
Joanna D, John BS, Zhong L, Matthew JW, et al. (2016). Bacterial populations
associated with smokeless tobacco products. Applied and Environmental
Microbiology 82:6273-6283.
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