Four US senators and health officials in the two cities whose baseball teams will face off today in the World Series are urging players to refrain from chewing tobacco on the field, reports Associated Press.

Although chewing tobacco has long tradition on the diamond, a letter signed by senators Dick Durbin of Illinois and fellow Democrats Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Senate Health Committee Chairman Tom Harkin of Iowa urges a ban on the playing field and on camera.
A separate letter from health officials in St. Louis, Missouri, and Arlington, Texas, calls on players to voluntarily refrain from chewing tobacco during the Series and on Major League Baseball to institute a permanent ban, the AP reports.
This year’s World Series contenders are the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers.
“When players use smokeless tobacco, they endanger not only their own health, but also the health of millions of children who follow their example,” the senators reportedly said in a letter to the players’ union. (pi)