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Mayor Walsh, Curt Schilling aim to strike out smokeless tobacco at sports events – Metro US

Mayor Walsh, Curt Schilling aim to strike out smokeless tobacco at sports events

Mayor Walsh, Curt Schilling aim to strike out smokeless tobacco at sports
Nic Czarnecki/Metro Boston

Mayor Marty Walsh and Curt Schilling, the bloody sock-sporting hero of the 2004 World Series, teamed up with public health officials and advocates, hoping to strike out smokeless tobacco in Fenway Park and other sports venues.

Walsh will pitch an ordinance with the City Council on Monday, hoping to improve the quality of our national pastime and toss out the link between a lip full of spit tobacco and the old ball game.

“Our baseball parks are places for creating healthy futures, and this ordinance is about doing the right thing as a community for our young people,” Walsh said in a press release. “The consequences of smokeless tobacco are real, and we must do all that we can to set an example. I look forward to working with the City Council to keep Boston on the leading edge in creating healthy communities for our young people.”

The ordinance takes aim at banning chewing tobacco in professional, collegiate, high school or organized amateur sporting events, including baseball, softball, football, basketball, hockey, track and field, field hockey, lacrosse and soccer; and any other event involving a game or other athletic competition organized by a league or association.

The National Cancer Institute states that chewing tobacco and snuff contain 28 cancer-causing agents and the U.S. National Toxicology Program has established smokeless tobacco as a “known human carcinogen.”