As R.J. Reynolds prepares a national marketing campaign for the company's new smokeless-tobacco product, dubbed 'Camel Snus,' public-health experts say that not enough is known about the possible harmful effects of products being positioned as an alternative to smoking, the Washington Post reported Nov. 23.

Snus is a tea bag-like pouch of steam-pasteurized smokeless tobacco that consumers can tuck between their cheek and gum to deliver a hit of nicotine. R.J. Reynolds plans to launch the marketing campaign for Camel Snus early next year, and at least two other U.S. tobacco companies are test-marketing snus.

But Dorothy Hatsukami, director of the Tobacco Use Research Center at the University of Minnesota, said information about nicotine absorption and toxicity for tobacco products is lacking, and that there is not enough data on snus to make per-dose comparisons to cigarettes or spit tobacco.

"I think we're all holding our breath in terms of what's going to be coming down the pike," Hatsukami said. "There's not much known about these products -- what's in these products, how they're going to be used, who's going to be using them and what the effects of that use will be … Will it create more harm or less harm?"

Researchers at West Virginia University recently tested Camel Snus and found at least two carcinogens. "It's not like chewing gum. This product is not a safe alternative to cigarettes," said Robert Anderson, deputy director of West Virginia University's Prevention Research Center.

Experts worry that Snus will be particularly attractive to children with its brightly colored tins and names like "frost" and "spice," and that adults will have a tough time monitoring children's use because the product is easy to conceal.

R.J. Reynolds spokesperson Daniel Howard says that the company does not target underage users and expects the product to be most popular among adult males and snuff users.