During Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week (April 22-28), Delta Dental is applauding Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association for their efforts to eliminate tobacco's visibility from young fans.
Under a recent agreement, MLB players, managers, and coaches will no longer be able to carry a smokeless tobacco tin or package in their uniforms during games or when fans are in stadiums. They will also be prohibited from "chewing" during televised interviews and at autograph signings and other fan events.
Players such as Boston Red Sox outfielder Adrian Gonzalez and Chicago White Sox pitcher John Danks have recorded public service announcements speaking out against smokeless tobacco. Joe Garagiola, an 84-year-old former tobacco-chewing MLB catcher and current broadcaster, is the chairman of the National Spit Tobacco Education Program, a 17-year-old program operated by Oral Health America that educates baseball players of all ages about the dangers of chewing tobacco.
Smokeless tobacco has been banned from Minor League Baseball since 1993 and from collegiate athletics since 1994.
