Research Institute For a Tobacco Free Society

Tobacco is the single largest cause of avoidable death in the European Union, accounting for over half a million deaths annually. Here in Ireland, more than 6,000 people die from smoking-related disease every year: 95 per cent of lung cancers are caused by smoking. Moreover, regular smokers face an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, and, on average, lose 10 to 15 years from their life expectancy, while pregnant women who smoke can cut off oxygen supplies to their unborn baby.

So what is the best way to control this killer? According to the World Bank, money talks: higher tobacco taxes are the single most effective way to reduce use - and consequently reduce cancer - especially for young people and others with low incomes. A price rise of 10 per cent decreases consumption by about 8 per cent in low- and middle-income countries.

But do the same rules apply in the richer countries of western Europe, where disposable incomes are higher? Also, what is the effect of price on smuggling? And what strategies will the tobacco industry devise to counteract increasing prices? These are some of the questions PPACTE aims to answer. The project, which has secured the largest award for a tobacco control project the EU has ever given, is being led by Professor Luke Clancy, Director General of the Irish Research Institute for a Tobacco Free Society (RIFTFS) - a new institute set up by the government to look at all aspects of research on tobacco control.

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Tobacco Control Program Saved Billions in Health Costs

Rapid benefits in California tied to fact program was directed at adults, not youth, study finds

TUESDAY, Aug. 26 (Health Day News) -- California's state tobacco program resulted in a 50-to-1 return on investment over 15 years, say researchers from the University of California, San Francisco.

In a study published in the Aug. 25 issue of PLoS Medicine, researchers evaluated the health care savings that occurred as a result of the tobacco control program between 1989, when the program began, and 2004, when the study ended.

They found that the program saved $86 billion -- in 2004 dollars -- while only costing the state $1.8 billion to fund the program.

The savings were due to the fact that the program prevented 3.6 billion packs of cigarettes from being smoked over the 15-year period.

"The benefits of the program accrued very quickly and are very large," senior author Stanton Glantz, director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, said in a university press release.

Glantz said that the reason the California program had such sizable and rapid benefits in health-care cost savings was the fact it was directed at adults, not youth.

"When adults stop smoking, you see immediate benefits in heart disease, with impacts on cancer and lung diseases starting to appear a year or two later," he said.

These savings occurred despite the fact that there was a substantial diversion of funding during the mid-1990s. In fact, the researchers estimated, if the funding had been maintained at the same intensity as it had in the program's early years, the total health-care cost savings would have increased from $86 billion to $156 billion over the 15 years.

Previous research has shown that large state tobacco control programs can reduce smoking, heart attacks and cancer. But this study is the first to quantify the health-care savings that result from these types of programs.

Glantz teamed up with James Lightwood, assistant adjunct professor in the UCSF School of Pharmacy, who specializes in mathematical modeling, health economics, and statistics.

For this study, Lightwood used methods that were developed to analyze financial markets. The researchers used these methods to model the relationship between per capita tobacco control expenditures, per capita cigarette consumption, and health-care expenditures across the study time frame. They compared the California results to those from 38 states that did not have comprehensive tobacco control programs before 2000.

The researchers hope that this study will help support the development of new tobacco control programs.

"The methods in this study can be used to forecast future costs and will provide important additional means for validating program evaluations that previously did not exist," Lightwood in the university new release.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about smoking and tobacco use.

2007 IJMS Doctor Award for best respiratory paper published in the international peer reviewed literature at the IJMS doctors’ awards in November 2007

Dr. Pat Goodman (DIT) & Professor Luke Clancy RIFTFS having just received their award for their paper: “Effects of the Irish Smoking Ban on Respiratory Health of Bar Workers and Air Quality in Dublin Pubs” Patrick Goodman, Michelle Agnew, Marie McCaffrey, Gillian Paul, and Luke Clancy Am J Respir Crit Care Med. Vol 175,pp 840-845, 2007

Download publication in pdf format.

This was a measurement based study showing the continuing success of the smoking ban, and has indicated that in just one year, health standards have improved significantly as a result of the policy.

According to the study, based on the investigation of bars in Ireland comparing the level of workplace carcinogens and other harmful particles as well as staff lung capacity before and exactly one year after the smoking ban showed that Irish bars have witnessed an 80 per cent drop in particle levels since the introduction of the ban.

Pulmonary function of staff at the facilities had also improved significantly, the research concluded, with forced expiratory volume (FEV1), forced volume capacity (FVC1) and the transfer of oxygen to the blood all improving since the onset of the policy.

Irelands Workplace Smoking Ban

Tobacco control is arguably the most important health intervention of our time, and it is appropriate and important that chest physicians play an active role in this process. Smoking is the main cause of COPD and lung cancer, and is important in asthma. Its clear role in infections of both children and adults is such that there are very few respiratory physicians whose work is not affected by smoking. The workplace ban in Ireland is an example of a successful intervention with immediate beneficial respiratory health outcomes and, in all likelihood, enormous long-term benefits. This review examines the processes in the formation of a national tobacco control policy which supported the implementation of the ban and also reviews the effectiveness of the intervention, in particular with regard to acute respiratory health.

Follow this link to read the full publication.

Congratulations to Dr Marie McCaffrey winner of Best paper published in the IJMS

The workplace smoking ban has been good for the hospitality industry, its staff and customers, with industry predictions of major job losses and decreased trade not borne out one year later.

This was the conclusion of Dr Marie McCaffrey's winning paper entitled 'Smoking, occupancy and staffing levels in a selection of Dublin pubs pre and post a national smoking ban, lessons for all', published in the Irish Journal of Medical Science.

You can read the IJMS Doctor Awards 2007 narative here

Effects of the Irish Smoking Ban on Respiratory Health of Bar Workers and Air Quality in Dublin Pubs

Introduction: Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) causes disease in non-smokers. Workplace bans on smoking are interventions to reduce exposure to ETS to try to prevent harmful health effects. The Irish Government on the 29th March 2004 introduced the first national comprehensive legislation banning smoking in all workplaces including bars and restaurants. This study examines the impact of this legislation on air quality in pubs and on respiratory health effects in bar workers in Dublin.....

Follow this link to read the full press article.

Prof. Luke Clancy's interview on Irish Health

Respiratory Physician and Chairman of ASH Ireland Luke Clancy was interviewed by Niall Hunter of Irish Health in March 2006 to discuss the role of ASH, second hand smoking, the effectiveness and acceptance of the smoking ban and its necessity. This interview is now available for download and requires Real Player.

Please note that the flash links are broken and that you must use the Real Player links.

To download this interview click on the following link: Irish Health Interview

Benchmark High Court decision on tobacco control is welcomed

Dear Editor,

Ash Ireland welcomes a benchmark decision on the test purchase protocol, relating to tobacco, in the High Court last week. This protocol was developed by the Office of Tobacco Control and is implemented by Environmental Health Officers.

The High Court (Mr Justice Roderic Murphy) entirely vindicated the protocol, which facilitates Environmental Health in using children to test-purchase cigarettes in retail outlets. If the retailer sells to these children, it is then deemed to be an offence. Cigarettes must not be sold to persons under 18 years....

Follow this link to read the full press release.

Tobacco industry accused of increasing nicotine (4th September 2006 - IrishExaminer.com)

The tobacco industry in Ireland has been asked to come clean on whether or not nicotine levels have been increased in cigarettes on sale in Ireland.

New research in the US shows levels in several leading brands have been increased deliberately by manufacturers by up to 10%. Two of these brands are on sale here in Ireland.

Professor Luke Clancy, spokesperson for anti-smoking group ASH Ireland, said: “ If it's true that the nicotine cigarettes sold in this country has increased, then this is alarming. We know that the amount of nicotine in a cigarette determines how quickly you get addicted."

Pub customers numbers up 11%

The study of 38 pubs throughout Dublin found that while staffing levels in pubs fell by almost 9% — 129 against 118 — after the ban was introduced in March 2004, 11% more customers visited the pubs — from an average of 59 to 66. It also found there was a huge reduction, 77.8%, in the number of people smoking on a visit to a pub.

The results of the study, entitled Smoking, Occupancy and Staffing Levels in a Selection of Dublin Pubs pre- and post- a National Smoking Ban, Lessons For All, have been published in the latest edition of the Irish Journal of Medical Science.

Follow this link to read the full press article.

40,000 smokers would quit if price went up 10%

Nearly 40,000 Irish people would quit smoking if the price of twenty cigarettes increased to €6.98. That is according to research done by the EU anti-smoking campaign, 'Help - for a life without tobacco', which shows that a 10% price increase in high income countries results in a 4% reduction in smoker numbers.

This makes tax and price increases the single biggest factor in encouraging people to quit, especially among younger smokers and people on low incomes. Surveys carried out on French smokers between 1999 and 2003 showed an overall reduction in smoking by 12% during the period with the price factor jumping from fourth to first place among reasons cited for quitting over the same period.

Follow this link to read the full HELP press release.

Congratulation to Michelle Agnew

Congratulations to Ms Michele Agnew who won Best Poster Presentation at the Irish Thoracic Society in Galway 11th - 12th November 2005.

Her Prize was presented by Dr Colin Edwards of Boehringher Ingelheim. Ms. Michele Agnew presented the final results of 'The effect of the Workplace ban on smoking on the Lung Function of Bar Workers' in poster format and Ms Marie McCaffrey of DIT presented the final results of ''in a Particulate Pollution and Benzene levels in Public houses in Dublin Pre and Post the Introduction of the Workplace Smoking Ban Powerpoint presentation. Both Ms Agnew's poster and Ms McCaffrey's Presentation can be viewed in our research results section.

HELP Launch

The HELP-campaign (www.help-eu.com) is dedicated to the reduction of smoking in youth and addresses is targeted especially at young people aged 15 to 18 and young adults aged 18 to 30.

Health professionals are in an ideal position to play a prominent role in tobacco control. The European Union, through its legislative action, the support of projects and exchanges of good practices promotes the specific role of health professionals in tobacco control and smoking cessation. Education of children, adolescents and young adults is vital in an anti smoking campaign and the role that health professionals play in this area cannot be over emphasised.

RIFTFS one year anniversary
RIFTFS has just completed its first year's activity which coincided with the first year of the Work Place Ban on Smoking in Ireland.Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in Ireland. Each year more than 6,000 people die prematurely from diseases caused by tobacco smoke.

Aims of RIFTFS
The Research Institute for a Tobacco Free Society (RIFTFS) is a limited company formed on the basis of partnership between the Office of Tobacco Control and ASH Ireland/Irish Heart Foundation/Irish Cancer Society. The aim of RIFTFS is to form a transdisciplinary academic community around the issue of tobacco control and to support the development of a tobacco free society by engaging in all aspects of research from a public health prospective.

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