The motor racing piece that prominently features tobacco company
sponsorship and brand logos in the August issue of Maxim (News Analysis
2003;13:348) is not alone. That same month, a seven page article provided
similar exposure for Jordan’s association with B&H in FHM, the leading
UK ‘lad mag’ (circulation circa 600,000).
These promotions, of course, reflect standard tobacco industry
strategy of circumventin...
The motor racing piece that prominently features tobacco company
sponsorship and brand logos in the August issue of Maxim (News Analysis
2003;13:348) is not alone. That same month, a seven page article provided
similar exposure for Jordan’s association with B&H in FHM, the leading
UK ‘lad mag’ (circulation circa 600,000).
These promotions, of course, reflect standard tobacco industry
strategy of circumventing advertising bans through coverage of their
sponsorship and promotion of motor racing, and the readership of FHM and
Maxim - predominantly young men - fits a traditionally important market.
Of perhaps greater concern is the appearance of an advertisement for
Subaru sports cars in the sport section of the UK Sunday paper The
Observer, (29 June, 2003). The quarter-page ad, a much more subtle
approach than the glossy picture spreads of FHM, featured a photograph of
winning driver Petter Solberg’s Subaru World Rally Team (SWRT) car at the
2003 Cyprus Rally and the accompanying caption informed readers that they
too could be winners by taking advantage of current prices on a range of
Subaru models. What was noteworthy about the ad was the central place and
visibility given the State Express 555 livery on the car.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), however, saw no problem
with the Subaru promotion, noting in its response to a written complaint:
“the advertisement is for Subaru cars and shows a winning rally car that
features the sponsor’s branding…. [it] is clearly intended to draw
attention to the car and does not place emphasis on tobacco.”
The Observer’s circulation figures generally hover around the 450,000
mark and while not one of the biggest Sunday papers, it could reasonably
assumed to have a much broader readership than the monthly men’s magazines
mentioned above, not least children and teenagers who leaf through the
Sunday papers in their homes.
Like many others, John Polito [1] misses the point about smokeless
tobacco. It is not a health strategy to be widely recommended by doctors,
nor is it a medical smoking cessation treatment, nor should it be part of
a community-based health programme. It is, or should be, part of a market
for nicotine products in which the world will go on allowing the sale of
cigarettes - the most hazardous form of nicotine. It should b...
Like many others, John Polito [1] misses the point about smokeless
tobacco. It is not a health strategy to be widely recommended by doctors,
nor is it a medical smoking cessation treatment, nor should it be part of
a community-based health programme. It is, or should be, part of a market
for nicotine products in which the world will go on allowing the sale of
cigarettes - the most hazardous form of nicotine. It should be a real-
world assumption of all those working in public health that cigarettes
will continue to be sold legally for the foreseeable future, and that
their decline (which I believe is inevitable) will come as people,
communities and wider society turn away by choice and through development
of new norms. The availability of much less hazardous forms of the
product makes sense in that context.
Polito's method may well work for some people some of the time -
though I notice he cites only himself, self-published on his own web site
as evidence for this. But even on the generous assumption that there is
something in his approach, it cannot be the only possible route for
reducing tobacco-related harm. What if people just don't want what he has
to offer? What if people can’t or won’t quit using nicotine? What if they
need to come off nicotine more gradually? Do you just deny them an
alternative to reduce their risks because they are not doing or cannot do
what you think they should? Frankly, that is an authoritarian “quit or
die” mindset that belongs to an earlier century (not even the last one).
Tomar and his colleagues [2] clearly do not like to be referred to as
advocates of “quit or die” - but that is exactly the choice they offer.
However much they dislike it, the label will stick because it is accurate.
Polito takes that prescription a step further into "quit my way or die".
On the subject of disclosure of competing interests, I believe
Tobacco Control does require this (though Polito and Tomar et al make
none). None of the authors of the discussion on smokeless tobacco (Bates
et al [3]) is or was in any way supported by any part of the tobacco
industry. We are not wounded by the charge of 'tobacco industry stooges'
(as Tomar et al imply we might be) because it is an inaccurate and empty
rejoinder to the accurate labelling of Tomar et al as advocates of 'quit
or die'. As we explain in our discussion paper, our concern is about
reducing cancer, lung and heart disease, and the rest of the consequences
of tobacco use as effectively as possible. That's all. We worry that some
prominent advocates have uncritically conflated these real goals with the
common tactical aim of attacking the tobacco industry in every possible
situation. In doing so, they have become confused about priorities and
disorientated in the debate on harm reduction.
The "quit or die" philosophy would be easier to explain if it was
straightforward influence-peddling and greed at work on behalf of Big
Pharma, which has clear interests in this area. But I think that is the
wrong (or only partial) explanation. I suggest the real explanation lies
in the realm of ideology, personal views on the relation between the state
and the citizen, vanity about anti-tobacco industry credentials, and on
the pillars of orthodoxy on which tobacco control currently rests with
inadequate critical scrutiny. Talk to people outside the public health
field and the idea that governments ban, or advocates lie about, far less
hazardous forms of the market-leading product and they find it as absurd
as it is unacceptable.
[1] Polito J. "Another simple issue"?. Electronic response to
Tobacco Control, 7 December 2003.
[2] Tomar SL, Connolly GN, Wilkenfeld J, et al. Declining smoking in
Sweden: is Swedish Match getting the credit for Swedish tobacco control’s
efforts? Tobacco Control 2003;12: 368-371
[3] Bates C, Fagerstrom K, Jarvis MJ, et al. European Union policy on
smokeless tobacco: a statement in favour of evidence based regulation for
public health. Tobacco Control 2003;12 360-367
Clive Bates
[Former Director, ASH UK. Writing in a personal capacity]
An important discussion of issues is being missed in a rash of name
calling. Let’s back up, recognize our common goals and see if we can
discuss issues and skip the personalities. We believe that the letters of
Foulds et al and Bates et al badly mangled our comments and took
statements out of context. Foulds et al. and Bates et al. obviously feel
the same about our article. This issue has precipitated name calling,
qu...
An important discussion of issues is being missed in a rash of name
calling. Let’s back up, recognize our common goals and see if we can
discuss issues and skip the personalities. We believe that the letters of
Foulds et al and Bates et al badly mangled our comments and took
statements out of context. Foulds et al. and Bates et al. obviously feel
the same about our article. This issue has precipitated name calling,
questioning of integrity, even rather defamatory slogans used to attack
those with differing opinions ranging from “quit or die” to “flat earth
believers”. Clearly, we disagree on several aspects of the issue, even
while agreeing on others (such as the importance of efforts to reduce
death and disease in those who continue to use nicotine without
undermining prevention and cessation). This core point of agreement is
shared by many of us engaged in this debate. It is unfortunate, and
frankly very discouraging, that the differences seem to be resulting in
more vitriol than are the common values resulting in constructive dialog.
Many of the specific comments of Foulds et al. will be addressed in a
subsequent response. Here we would like to briefly address some of the
main issues. Our commentary takes issue with the position of Bates et al.
and Foulds et al. which calls for a role for smokeless tobacco in tobacco
control efforts to reduce smoking. We believe that Bates et al. and
Foulds et al. overstate the benefits and generality of the Swedish snus
experience and that they understate the risks and areas of uncertainty.
Not surprisingly, they imply that we have overstated the risks and
understated the benefits in our urge for caution and a regulated playing
field. As we note in our commentary:
“If there is a role for oral tobacco in a comprehensive effort to
reduce the death toll from tobacco use, then its manufacture and marketing
must be overseen by an agency with comprehensive regulatory authority. A
regulatory agency should be open to all strategies that are scientifically
based and that will save lives. However, the decision about what role
oral tobacco plays in that overall scheme is a decision that can only be
made by an agency that has all of the relevant information.”
The fact that a population of persons using exclusively smokeless
tobacco is at overall lower risk of most forms of smoking caused disease
is not disputed by us. We do assert that smokeless tobacco has been
repeatedly demonstrated to be a deadly addictive product that causes a
variety of serious and life-threatening diseases as documented in the
Institute of Medicine Report (IOM) (see pages 426-429 and 563-564 for a
review of widely accepted oral diseases and attributable cancer). With
regard to Swedish smokeless tobacco, at least as marketed in Sweden, we
concur with the conclusion of that report on page 167 as follows: “It may
be considered that such products could be used as PREPs [potentially
reduced exposure products] for persons addicted to nicotine, but these
product should undergo testing as PREPs using the guideline and research
agenda contained herein.” Neither we nor the IOM Report are ready to
accept extant data as sufficient for endorsing smokeless tobacco for harm
reduction. Furthermore, we support the general strategies recommended by
the IOM Report to develop the data that would enable such and endorsement.
We apparently differ from Foulds et al. and Bates et al. in our call for
such data. We stand by our position.
Perhaps the most important issue implicit in our concerns about our
colleague’s characterizations of the Swedish experience is their explicit
or implicit judgment that it is relevant outside of Sweden. Bates et al.
do not recite their analysis of the Swedish experience solely for
rhetorical purposes or to support its continuation in Sweden. They cite
it in support of its application outside of Sweden to greater Europe and
beyond. Similarly, because we were asked to provide a commentary for the
Tobacco Control issue as Americans, we responded to this analysis with our
concerns about the application of the Swedish experience to the United
States and elsewhere. We noted that the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company
(UST) did not cite the Swedish snus experience in its pleadings before the
Federal Trade Commission in order to gratuitously commend Sweden: UST was
making a pitch to expand its marketing of smokeless tobacco in the United
States, armed with government endorsed harm reduction claims which it
argued could then be made for all if its products, including those known
to be gateways to tobacco use among youth and those that are among the
highest in cancer-causing nitrosamines. In fact, neither the Foulds et
al. nor Bates et al. reviews noted that outside of Sweden, even Swedish
Match products are higher in cancer-causing nitrosamines than they sell in
Sweden.
Thus, a fundamental question for all tobacco control experts is as
follows: If smokeless tobacco has played any overall positive role in
Swedish health, what is the relevance of the experience to other
countries? Moreover, what questions should tobacco control leaders
consider before endorsing smokeless tobacco as a component of
comprehensive tobacco control strategies? We have many questions about
the benefits attributable to snus in Sweden. Moreover, we are very
concerned about the potential for expanded smokeless tobacco marketing in
the absence of comprehensive tobacco and nicotine product regulation,
particularly if endorsed by public health advocates, to cause more damage
to public health than it will to improve public health. The potential
risks are numerous and include: Deadly delays in quitting smoking with
the support of smokeless tobacco to manage smoking restrictions. Uptake
of smokeless tobacco by persons who would not have otherwise used any
tobacco product. Substitution of the most popular high nitrosamine
smokeless products in the U.S. and as available most everywhere but Sweden
for cigarettes as an alternative to complete tobacco cessation.
Graduation from smokeless tobacco use to cigarette smoking as has already
been well documented in the United States.
Finally, it is not as if there are no alternatives to reducing
smoking prevalence. As demonstrated in California, Florida, Mississippi,
and Massachusetts, dramatic reductions in youth smoking initiation and
adult smoking prevalence can occur, as compared to surrounding states,
without advocating snuff use or trading cigarettes for snuff, but rather
on the basis of comprehensive tobacco control efforts.
Other tobacco control experts will need to carefully examine the
data, weigh their concerns, and come to their own conclusions. We remain
concerned about the place of smokeless tobacco in tobacco control and will
continue to insist that that comprehensive tobacco regulation should be
the prerequisite for its further consideration.
Scott L. Tomar,
University of Florida, Division of Public Health Services and Research,
Gainesville, Florida, USA
Greg N. Connolly,
Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Judith Wilkenfeld,
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Washington, DC, USA
Jack E. Henningfield,
Pinney Associates, Bethesda, Maryland; and Johns Hopkins University School
of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
I read with interest the recent article by Graham and Owen (1), which
explores the socioeconomic differentials in underreporting of smoking
during pregnancy. The authors are to be congratulated for preparing such
an interesting, thought-provoking, and timely study on this subject.
However, it seems important to emphasize that in addition to self-
underreporting (or denial) of smoking status in pregnancy the problem also
li...
I read with interest the recent article by Graham and Owen (1), which
explores the socioeconomic differentials in underreporting of smoking
during pregnancy. The authors are to be congratulated for preparing such
an interesting, thought-provoking, and timely study on this subject.
However, it seems important to emphasize that in addition to self-
underreporting (or denial) of smoking status in pregnancy the problem also
lies in low level of suspicion on the part of health care providers for
addiction to tobacco in pregnant women.
While the illicit drug use in pregnancy has received significant attention
over the past two decades far too little attention has been given to the
consequences of the use of “social drugs” such as tobacco, ethanol and
caffeine, which are by far the most commonly used substances in pregnancy.
While the deleterious effects of cocaine, amphetamines, and opioids on the
mother and the fetus are more pronounced and easier to detect, the
addiction to tobacco, ethanol and caffeine is usually subtle and more
difficult to diagnose (2). As a result recreational use of tobacco in
pregnancy may continue undetected, significantly effecting pregnancy
outcome and obstetric and anesthetic (labor analgesia) management of these
patients.
Approximately 80% of women who smoke before pregnancy continue to smoke
when pregnant (2). Low cigarette consumption prior to pregnancy is the
best predictor for smoking cessation in pregnancy. The majority of
patients with a history of drug use in pregnancy (including tobacco) deny
it when interviewed by primary care physicians, obstetricians and/or
obstetric anesthesiologists (3). Risk factors suggesting tobacco use in
pregnancy include lack of prenatal care, respiratory complications and
history of premature labor. A high index of suspicion for tobacco (as well
as other social and illicit drug) use in pregnancy, combined with non-
judgmental questioning of every parturient is therefore necessary.
REFERENCE:
1. Graham H, Owen L. Are there socioeconomic differentials in under-
reporting of smoking in pregnancy? Tob Control 2003: 12: 434.
2. Kuczkowski KM. Tobacco and ethanol use in pregnancy: implications for
obstetric and anesthetic management. The Female Patient 2003; 28: 16-22.
3. Kuczkowski KM. Labor analgesia for the drug abusing parturient: is
there cause for concern? Obstet Gynecol Surv 2003; 58: 599-608.
I think the most important point to address in Tomar et al’s e-response [1] is their call for more evidence before any change to the status quo (the status quo is a ban on oral tobacco in the EU, and public health disinformation in the US). They say that “neither we nor the IOM Report are ready to accept extant data as sufficient for endorsing smokeless tobacco for harm reduction”. This stance does not reflect the real...
I think the most important point to address in Tomar et al’s e-response [1] is their call for more evidence before any change to the status quo (the status quo is a ban on oral tobacco in the EU, and public health disinformation in the US). They say that “neither we nor the IOM Report are ready to accept extant data as sufficient for endorsing smokeless tobacco for harm reduction”. This stance does not reflect the real-world policy choices and inverts the natural burden of proof.
First, “endorsing smokeless tobacco for harm reduction” in Europe means unbanning and regulating the product as part of the tobacco market. In the US, it would involve health advocates no longer misleading the public about it – as regrettably the Surgeon General recently did. It does not involve doctors prescribing it, health advocates advocating it, or guest slots for UST at the Washington World Conference. What does ‘endorsing’ actually mean in Europe? In reality, there are some quite concrete decisions in Europe which we must take on the available evidence. These include: continue the oral tobacco ban or lift it? Tell the truth or mislead smokers about it? Whether to regulate oral tobacco, and if so, in what way? These are questions that cannot be ducked on the back of too little evidence – the ‘do nothing’ philosophy is simply a decision in favour of the status quo. This amounts to an active endorsement of the ”quit or die” approach, in which smokers are denied less hazardous alternatives to cigarettes, which themselves remain practically unregulated. There is no supporting evidence for leaving the market to the most dangerous products, and it seems illogical to me.
Second, let us be clear about the burden of proof. The 'intervention' in Europe is to ban oral tobacco while not banning cigarettes. It is that intervention that requires an evidence base – a point not considered by the IOM. The burden of proof naturally falls on those making and sustaining this intervention (the EU), but three reasons make the demand for supporting evidence more pressing:
It is highly irregular to ban a less hazardous variant of a product, thereby deliberately denying users of the more hazardous product the choice of a switch and so preventing an individual risk reduction response. There are no precedents for this, and for that reason alone I would expect good evidence to support such an unorthodox approach to consumer safety.
Common sense suggests that it is plausible that addicted smokers would use oral tobacco as an alternative to smoking and to quit, thus reducing harm. Given there is a reasonable hypothesis that smokeless tobacco will reduce harm, there is a commensurate need to show that hypothesis to be flawed if one is to support a ban on oral tobacco without banning smoking tobacco.
The evidence from Sweden shows a compelling public health case against banning the product and no-one in their right mind would seek to extend the EU ban to Sweden. Sweden sends a powerful cautionary signal to the rest of the EU about perverse consequences of clumsy interventions. If it is not right to ban it in Sweden, how can we be so confident that it is right to ban it in the rest of the EU? Given the hypothetical opportunity, would American campaigners really ban smokeless tobacco in the US, while leaving cigarettes under the current weak regulatory regime?
If this was a controlled trial and the intervention (rest of EU, ban on oral tobacco) had consistently worse results than the control (Sweden, no intervention), we would stop the trial and abandon the intervention. To continue with the trial and intervention, the burden of proof would clearly fall on those supporting the intervention to prove that Sweden was not representative or that some other factors are at work in the rest of the EU. Tomar et al haven't any evidence and don't even seem to think they should supply it – perhaps relying on an a priori argument that any ban on any tobacco product represents some sort of progress. Sweden is not a controlled trial of course, but snus is not a medicine and long term changes in market structure do not lend themselves to such trials. Sweden shows us what is possible, and we forego that potential at our peril and at the expense of unfortunate people addicted to smoking and nicotine.
Sweden almost certainly is different to the rest of Europe – if only by virtue of history and the length of time this market has been established. But that is a reason to expect the benefits in the rest of Europe to be less and slower, not a reason to prevent that change in market structure ever occurring or a basis for believing that the effects would be the opposite in the rest of Europe. The EU justified its ban on the basis of a assumption that smokeless tobacco would unleash a plague of oral cancer and be a major gateway into smoking. Though this was muddled thinking from the outset, the evidence is clear from Sweden, and the opposite appears to be the case - there is no gateway and apparently little risk (and minimal compared to smoking). As the economist John Maynard Keynes famously said: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?”. In Europe, many of us are changing our minds.
So, let me restate the question – where is the evidence base that justifies this highly irregular intervention, especially in the face of evidence from Sweden that not banning the product contributes to a public health gain there? How do Tomar et al know their implicit backing for the highly irregular oral tobacco intervention in Europe isn’t simply killing more Europeans? Given what we know about how it works in Sweden, and given that the evidence shows relatively low risk of serious harm from using this product compared to smoking, don’t they think it would be wise to have some evidence to back the case for maintaining this intervention in the rest of the EU? I say they have implicit support for the EU ban because they raise difficult to impossible evidential hurdles to justify a move away from the ban, while offering no evidence to support it.
Tomar et al worry that people that would otherwise never use tobacco might use oral tobacco if it was unbanned in Europe. The question should be inverted – especially because of what we know in Sweden. How do they know that there are not people that would use snus instead of smoking or quit smoking using snus had it not been banned? Tomar et al pose this question as if it is a ‘red line’ and that it must be shown that no-one who would not otherwise use tobacco would use an oral tobacco product if it was unbanned. What if, more realistically, there was less smoking as smokers switched to snus or quit but some people that did use oral tobacco that would otherwise not have been tobacco users? The balance of risk and benefit (and civil liberties) is on the side of unbanning oral tobacco because oral tobacco is not especially harmful and there is little sign of a gateway to smoking. On the other hand, anyone displacing smoking or quitting with oral tobacco use experiences a considerable reduction in risk. Tomar et al offer no thoughts on this balance, though it is a central concern and has been discussed in Tobacco Control [2].
Tomar et al also resort to setting impossible evidential hurdles – "If smokeless tobacco has played any overall positive role in Swedish health, what is the relevance of the experience to other countries?" I have discussed above how the burden of proof is really with them, but how could anyone prove to their satisfaction how the tobacco market would respond to the unbanning of snus in Europe without unbanning it and conducting market surveillance? But they want the proof as a pre-condition for unbanning it. The most sensible way forward is to unban the product and conduct market surveillance, adjusting the regulatory regime if needed - and, yes, banning it again if it all goes wrong or the manufacturers behave badly. One could even envisage a 'sunset' clause on the lifting of the ban, requiring it to be reaffirmed in 10 years time.
Tomar et al use contradictory arguments at different times. For example they raise the (evidence-free) theory that smokeless tobacco may help smokers deflect the pressure to quit arising from smoke-free policies. In their e-response, they worry about "deadly delays in quitting smoking with the support of smokeless tobacco to manage smoking restrictions." But in their initial commentary [3] they attribute the low smoking prevalence in Sweden to the effectiveness of smoke-free policies specifically amongst men despite their high use of snus, suggesting that: "therefore, men would be more likely than women to be impacted by smoke-free workplace regulations". Hmmm… now which is it?
Let us also address the question of regulation. Yes it is true that a regulatory regime for smokeless tobacco and all tobacco products would be ideal. But the real issue is what should happen in what could be a long (or indefinite) interim period before such a regulatory regime is in place. Should the absence of a comprehensive regulatory regime justify the European ban or American disinformation? I believe not, because even without regulation these products are far less hazardous than cigarettes. The difference between smokeless tobacco products is small compared to the difference between smokeless products and cigarettes. Regulation is highly desirable, but not essential to justify a change from the status quo in the EU. If the EU simply moved to the same position as the US, that would represent progress in the EU because smokers would no longer be denied this option and would at least have the choice available in Sweden, if not the ‘endorsement’ of elements of the public health community.
However, there is a very good opportunity in unbanning snus to introduce world-leading regulation in the EU. There is a risk that the opportunity will be bungled, either because the public health community remains in denial and slumbers through the opportunity, or because there will be excessive zeal in applying regulation. In the latter case, the danger is that over-strong regulation would leave in place counter-productive asymmetries in regulation between smoking and smokeless tobacco. Regulation shouldn’t be so exacting and one-sided that it prevents the market functioning for public health in the way it has so far succeeded in Sweden. The same argument applies to pharmaceutical nicotine, where the excessive caution of regulators and manufacturers and over-zealous regulation is a barrier to clean nicotine maintenance products and competitors to tobacco and so, paradoxically, works against the wider public health interest [4].
The EU already has a regulatory regime for marketing – tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion is not regarded as legitimate free speech, and is banned. The more challenging regulatory question is whether smokeless companies should have some tightly defined partial exemption from that in order target smokers to switch.
Finally, please note that this response and my others are only from me, not ‘Bates et al’, and therefore do not include my fellow authors of the printed article.
[1] Tomar et al, A Reply to Bates et al. and Foulds et al. Tobacco Control e-response, 19 December 2003.
[2] Kozlowski L. et al. Applying the risk/use equilibrium: use medicinal nicotine now for harm reduction Tob Control 2001;10:201 -203
[3] Tomar SL, Connolly GN, Wilkenfeld J, Henningfield JE. Declining smoking in Sweden: Is Swedish Match getting the credit for Swedish tobacco control’s efforts? Tobacco Control2003; 12:368-59
[4] McNeill A, Foulds J, Bates C. Regulation of nicotine replacement therapies (NRT): a critique of current practice. Addiction 2001; 96: 1757-1768.
I always enjoy new research describing how medical students are not
taught about tobacco use and smoking cessation. I teach medical students
about tobacco use. One of the first things I teach students about tobacco
use is that it is best considered a disease, not a risk factor. In the
American Society of Addiction Medicine's Public Policy Statement on
Nicotine Dependence and Tobacco in the Journal of Addictive Disease,...
I always enjoy new research describing how medical students are not
taught about tobacco use and smoking cessation. I teach medical students
about tobacco use. One of the first things I teach students about tobacco
use is that it is best considered a disease, not a risk factor. In the
American Society of Addiction Medicine's Public Policy Statement on
Nicotine Dependence and Tobacco in the Journal of Addictive Disease,
1993;12(1), it states:
"Although the medical profession has traditionally viewed tobacco use as a
risk factor for other diseases, and not as a primary problem in itself,
this approach has impeded, rather than promoted, the development of
optimal treatment methods for patients addicted to nicotine. Nicotine
dependence is best regarded as a primary medical problem, with tobacco-
related diseases viewed as direct consequences of nicotine dependence."
Recently I have been helping a student medical doctor study for the
Clinical Skills Assessment required as part of the USMLE process for
medical residency qualification to study in the United States. Materials
prepared for such study indicate patients should be told about smoking
cessation when the medical case indicates smoking is a risk factor. Yet,
smoking is not included as a "vital sign" to be asked about, nor is there
much recognition that nicotine dependence requires any kind of rigorous
response from doctors presented with patient conditions. So, in the case
of a patient with pneumonia, the doctor is to "discuss tobacco cessation
with the patient."
Sadly, I get little support from clinicians with my emphasis that
tobacco use is a primary condition. Generally, they all see tobacco use
as a distant "risk factor," far from their focus on strictly curative
concerns. With no understanding of tobacco use as a primary medical
problem and little reward for counseling/caring for patients to overcome
it, I see little prospect for change in physician training or practice in
this area.
Physicians wonder why patients increasingly seek help from
unqualified healers, counselors, but seem to continue to put preventive
and promotive care of primary medical conditions aside because their
profession does not support such action. I hope somewhere along the line,
the disease and death effects of tobacco use begin to register. Until
then, I shall continue teaching my two hours of unorthodoxy.
Stephen Hamann, MPH, MEd, EdD
Asst. Dean, Medical Education
Rangsit Medical School
Bangkok, Thailand
On 24 February 2004, the United States Supreme Court, by a vote of 6
to 2, affirmed the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit in Olympic Airways v. Husain, a case mentioned in this article
under the heading "Negligence." With no other avenue of appeal, Olympic
Airways is now required to pay $1.4 million to the Estate of Dr. Abid
Hanson because of its negligence.
On 24 February 2004, the United States Supreme Court, by a vote of 6
to 2, affirmed the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit in Olympic Airways v. Husain, a case mentioned in this article
under the heading "Negligence." With no other avenue of appeal, Olympic
Airways is now required to pay $1.4 million to the Estate of Dr. Abid
Hanson because of its negligence.
Dr. Hanson's tragic death aboard a smoke-filled Olympic Airways
flight comes to mind whenever I hear or read the false claim that
secondhand smoke has never killed anyone.
Cains et al., studying the extent to which designated "no smoking"
areas provide protection from environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), conclude
that such areas achieve some reduction in the level of exposure of
individuals to ETS. They indicate an average 53% reduction in nicotine
levels and 52% reduction in PM10 levels. These numbers, although not
marginal, are not sufficient to provide an adequate level of protection....
Cains et al., studying the extent to which designated "no smoking"
areas provide protection from environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), conclude
that such areas achieve some reduction in the level of exposure of
individuals to ETS. They indicate an average 53% reduction in nicotine
levels and 52% reduction in PM10 levels. These numbers, although not
marginal, are not sufficient to provide an adequate level of protection.
It should be added that these numbers probably overestimate the
actual exposure reduction obtained by introducing a division of the space
between a "smoking" and a "no smoking" area. To estimate such a reduction,
one would need to compare exposure to ETS in a situation where smoking is
permitted in the entire space versus the exposure level in the "no
smoking" area when the space is split. This difference is the real measure
of improvement (if any) brought by the introduction of separated areas.
Comparing the exposure to ETS between the "smoking" and "no smoking" areas
after such introduction has taken place is not equivalent. Such comparison
takes as its reference the "smoking area" in which the level of smoking
per unit volume may be much higher than in a space in which smoking is
permitted everywhere. It is indeed reasonable to expect that the "smoking"
area be occupied by a higher proportion of smokers, who probably smoke
more (owing to the social validation of smoking that such an area
provides). This situation may even have over time have a self-exacerbating
effect, since some (light) smokers may prefer to go to the "no smoking"
area as even they get growingly incommodated by the high level of ETS in
the "smoking" area.
The findings presented by Roddy et al. [1] paint a dim picture of
tobacco
training in the UK, but rosier than that in U.S. schools of public health
(SPH).
As part of the Association of Schools of Public Health(ASPH)/American
Legacy
Foundation “STEP UP” initiative, we administered an ASPH survey to the 27
faculty members of the San Diego State University Graduate School of
Public
Health (SDSU GSPH) and also to...
The findings presented by Roddy et al. [1] paint a dim picture of
tobacco
training in the UK, but rosier than that in U.S. schools of public health
(SPH).
As part of the Association of Schools of Public Health(ASPH)/American
Legacy
Foundation “STEP UP” initiative, we administered an ASPH survey to the 27
faculty members of the San Diego State University Graduate School of
Public
Health (SDSU GSPH) and also to 13 members of other departments. We also
reviewed the course catalog, and extramural research records.
Of the 76 classes offered by the GSPH, only 10 addressed tobacco in
any
form. Most of the 10 used tobacco only as illustrations of other content,
such
as research methods. None emphasized tobacco as a serious risk factor, or
control methods. Only two courses offered to the university’s 32,000
undergraduate students included tobacco content, one in health education
and one in psychology. Psychology and nursing had two and three graduate
classes, respectively, that mentioned tobacco. It is unlikely non-
responders
provided tobacco education, and department chairs confirmed this
conclusion.
With over 1,069 full-time equivalent faculty at SDSU, only 11 are
conducting
tobacco research. The GSPH has nine tobacco grants. Two full time faculty
teach most of the classes that include tobacco content, reaching about 35
students/year.
Undergraduate and graduate students have little exposure to tobacco
content
and little opportunity for tobacco-related research training. Similar to
Roddy
et al. [1], the ASPH survey of member schools indicated that about half
included some form of tobacco-related content [2], but few had a strong
tobacco control program.
Physicians leaving medical school feel unprepared to provide tobacco-
related
assistance to patients [3,4,5]. Dental schools may be the exception, yet
leave
considerable room for improvement [6]. Lack of tobacco control training
may
be true of schools of law, business, social sciences, biology and liberal
arts
programs. If so, the vast majority of students are not obtaining basic
education about the risks of or means of controlling tobacco.
The NIH spends about 1% of its research funds on tobacco-related
research,
possibly due to under-representation of tobacco control proposals [7] or
to
under-promotion by NIH. A search of NIH websites produced zero current
RFP/RFAs and zero training opportunities specific to tobacco.
Efforts are under way to increase professional education about
tobacco [8,9],
but extramurally supported programs may not be sustainable without
support from intramural sources. In the face of an industry that actively
undermines tobacco control efforts and that funds legislators, academic
administrators, and investigators in schools of medicine, dentistry,
public
health and basic science departments [10], we challenge university faculty
and academic administrators to dramatically increase the emphasis on
tobacco-control. We challenge tobacco control investigators to more
actively
promote research assistantships, and to make better use of available pre-
and post-doctoral fellowships as a means to recruit and support future
investigators. For one of the greatest public health crises, this is a
tragedy of
academic planning and government support.
References
1 Roddy E, Rubin P, Britton J, on behalf of the Tobacco Advisory
Group of the
Royal College of Physicians. A study of smoking and smoking cessation on
the curricula of UK medical schools. Tobacco Control 2004;13:74–77.
2 ASPH Tobacco Studies Survey 2001-2002. Association of Schools of
Public
Health/American Legacy Foundation. Available online: http://www.asph.org/
document.cfm?page=788. Accessed March 1, 2004.
3 Ferry LH, Grissino LM, Runfola PS. Tobacco dependence curricula in
US
undergraduate medical education. Journal of the American Medical
Association 1999;282:825-9.
4 Khurana S, Batra V, Kim V, Patkar A, Leone FT. Attitudes and
beliefs of
physicians-in-training regarding nicotine addiction and treatment. Chest
2002;122:S9.
5 Teaching Smoking Cessation: An Expert Interview With Vikas Batra,
MD, and
Frank T. Leone, MD. Medscape 12/30/2002. Available online: http://
www.medscape.com/viewarticle/446283?mpid=8129. Accessed April 3,
2003.
6 Weaver RG, Whittaker L, Valachovic RW, Broom A. Tobacco control
and
prevention effort in dental education. Journal of Dental Education
2002;66:
426-9.
7 Hughes J, Liguori A. A critical review of past NIH research funding
on
tobacco and nicotine. Nicotine and Tobacco Research 2000;2:117-20.
8 Tobacco Control in the 21st Century. University of Sydney,
Australia.
Available online: http://www.health.usyd.edu.au/tob21c. Accessed April 3,
2003.
9 Curricular innovation grant abstracts. Association of Schools of
Public
Health/American Legacy Foundation. Available online: http://www.asph.org/
document.cfm?page=791. Accessed March 1, 2004.
10 Chapman S, Shatenstein, S. The ethics of the cash register: taking
tobacco
research dollars. Tobacco Control 2001;10:1-2.
Sir,
I read with interest the paper by Cains et al. (2004) on the effect of “no
smoking” areas in licensed clubs in the metropolitan area of Sydney. They
found only an insufficient effect of “no smoking” zones especially when
this was only a subsection of the whole room without separation.
In spite of this finding this poor protection of the non-smokers is still
much favoured in the hospitality industry around the world. T...
Sir,
I read with interest the paper by Cains et al. (2004) on the effect of “no
smoking” areas in licensed clubs in the metropolitan area of Sydney. They
found only an insufficient effect of “no smoking” zones especially when
this was only a subsection of the whole room without separation.
In spite of this finding this poor protection of the non-smokers is still
much favoured in the hospitality industry around the world. Therefore I
want to support the Australian findings with our preliminary data from
Vienna, Austria.
The Viennese cuisine is well recognised for tasty and fine meals. But the
pleasure of dinners in restaurants is often diminished because of
environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Neither innkeepers nor guests seem to
be fully aware of this problem. As part of a larger project (Moshammer and
Neuberger, 2004) we did measure nicotine concentration also in some
restaurants and pubs in Vienna in 2002. Only few (and usually vegetarian)
restaurants are truly “non-smoking” in Vienna. We did select 6 restaurants
of different standards (pubs and cheaper restaurants for the working class
people and more expensive restaurants) with no separation of smokers and
non-smokers and collected nicotine on a filter using a calibrated pump
during lunch or dinner (in total 9 measurements). We also found two
restaurants that provide a “no smoking” area but without functional
separation from the smoking area: One café has declared a few tables near
the entrance as “no smoking” (where the ventilation of the whole room
apparently is mostly via this entrance door) and a restaurant (at the
university hospital) partly separates the dining room into two parts by a
shield that does not reach the ceiling.
In the restaurants with no separation we found nicotine levels
ranging from below 0.1 to 193.1 µg/m³, with an arithmetic mean of 37.1 and
a median of 15.7 µg/m³. The two values obtained in the “no smoking” area
of the café were 17.7 and 43.4 while the only value from the “smoking”
area in the same room was only 15.7 µg/m³.
In the restaurant at the hospital we measured concentrations between 6.8
and 39.5 µg/m³ (mean: 21.8, median: 19.8, in total 4 values) and in the
“smoking” area (with 3 measurements) between 16.8 and 28.6 µg/m³ (mean:
23.1, median: 23.9).
Although we can provide only few spot measurements it seems obvious that
under certain conditions the customers in the “no smoking” area could even
be more exposed than where smoking is allowed. In the other case the
separation at least was not very sufficient. Any differences between the
two areas were less pronounced than day-to day variations or between
different restaurants with no separation at all.
References:
Cains T, Cannata S, Poulos R, Ferson MJ, Stewart BW. Designated “no
smoking” areas provide from partial to no protection from environmental
tobacco smoke. Tobacco Control 2004; 13: 17-22
Moshammer H, Neuberger M. Nicotine and surface of particulates as
indicators of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in public places in
Austria. Int. J. Hyg. Environ. Health 2004; in press.
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I think the most important point to address in Tomar et al’s e-response [1] is their call for more evidence before any change to the status quo (the status quo is a ban on oral tobacco in the EU, and public health disinformation in the US). They say that “neither we nor the IOM Report are ready to accept extant data as sufficient for endorsing smokeless tobacco for harm reduction”. This stance does not reflect the real...
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Cains et al., studying the extent to which designated "no smoking" areas provide protection from environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), conclude that such areas achieve some reduction in the level of exposure of individuals to ETS. They indicate an average 53% reduction in nicotine levels and 52% reduction in PM10 levels. These numbers, although not marginal, are not sufficient to provide an adequate level of protection....
The findings presented by Roddy et al. [1] paint a dim picture of tobacco training in the UK, but rosier than that in U.S. schools of public health (SPH).
As part of the Association of Schools of Public Health(ASPH)/American Legacy Foundation “STEP UP” initiative, we administered an ASPH survey to the 27 faculty members of the San Diego State University Graduate School of Public Health (SDSU GSPH) and also to...
Sir, I read with interest the paper by Cains et al. (2004) on the effect of “no smoking” areas in licensed clubs in the metropolitan area of Sydney. They found only an insufficient effect of “no smoking” zones especially when this was only a subsection of the whole room without separation. In spite of this finding this poor protection of the non-smokers is still much favoured in the hospitality industry around the world. T...
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