Our Mission: To reduce the global burden of death, disease, and economic cost associated with tobacco use through research, training, and informing and transforming the practice of public health.
Our Work
The Tobacco Control
Research Program uses multiple, complementary research strategies to inform
tobacco control policy. Our work targets policy at every level, including
local, state, national and international tobacco control. The program is structured
to prevent youth initiation, promote cessation, research social disparities
impacting smoking behavior, and protect the health of non-smokers.
The Program's research activities focus on:
- Surveillance and analysis of new and novel tobacco products;
- Secondhand smoke measurement;
- Analysis of tobacco industry product manipulation and marketing strategies;
- Evaluation of international and national tobacco control initiatives;
- Teaching and training of students and young scientists in tobacco control research.
The Program draws upon the expertise of an interdisciplinary faculty and staff. The Program maintains long-standing relationships with the national and international tobacco control communities to reduce the global burden and suffering associated with tobacco use. This work lays the scientific foundation for tobacco product regulation.
Our Results
We have succeeded in
building a program at the forefront of tobacco control policy through numerous
publications in peer-reviewed journals, expert testimony before local, state,
and national legislative hearings, international collaborations, and routine
features in local and national media networks.
Highlights:
- Informed current pending federal legislation to regulate tobacco products by the Food and Drug Administration. Worked with international agencies to implement local tobacco control policies as recommended by the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
- Enhancement of tobacco control research capacity in Cyprus, Greece, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, El Salvador, Ireland, Poland, Armenia, India, Sudan, China, Taiwan, and Thailand.
- Establishment of the scientific base for state adoption of "fire safer" cigarettes. Following our research in 2004, 26 states, Australia and the EU adopted standard "Fire Safe" cigarettes.
- Examination of the development of new smokeless tobacco products and their population-level impact.
- Development of a science base for assessing Potentially Reduced Exposure (tobacco) Products.
- Documented: increase in tobacco product nicotine content over the last two decades; tobacco industry's manipulation of menthol to target high-risk groups; cigarette design to target girls and young women; and the impact of candy-flavored cigarettes targeting youth.