Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health
Meeting Summary: November 6, 2003
Public and Private Sector Roles in Tobacco Use Reduction
Committee Member Comments
Christine Williams, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, stressed the importance of
thinking broadly in identifying research needs and considering not only basic research, but
also translational research, (e.g., how to get physicians to ask the right questions in the
clinical setting).
Jared Jobe, Ph.D., National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, emphasized the importance of
working with marketing and communications professionals to "un-sell" tobacco use. He
mentioned that NCI is currently doing some of this work through its communications health
research program.
Aron Primack, M.D., M.A., Fogerty International Center, talked about the unfortunate
situation in Massachusetts with its decreased tobacco control funding and how it provides a
natural "experiment" in determining the effects of funding loss over time.
Scott Leischow, Ph.D., National Cancer Institute, mentioned a public-private meeting
underway focusing on surveillance and evaluation of tobacco programs. He also mentioned the
challenge of thinking systematically about research and how to most effectively and
strategically use the results to move us forward. Dr. Carmona responded by discussing a
working group that he is part of consisting of all the country's Surgeons General. This
group has identified smoking and obesity as two areas of common interest, and has had
discussions about the importance of prevention initiatives that cut across several health
risk areas. Dr. Carmona also mentioned that he had had some discussions with CDC and
communications experts about Surgeon General reports and whether they are communicating
important messages in the most effective manner.
Lynn Haverkos, M.D., National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, mentioned
several new tobacco focused initiatives that this Institute was working on. One area is to
better understand how behavior change occurs in children and a second area is in physician
education about the effects of secondhand smoke.
Michael Fiore, M.D., M.P.H., Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, University of
Wisconsin Medical School, directed a question to Howard Koh regarding the Massachusetts
initiative "Tax Tobacco. Save Kids." He asked whether voters believed that they were voting
in favor of a tax increase to be dedicated to smoking prevention when in fact, this is not
where the tax revenues have been placed. Dr. Koh responded by saying that the initiative
included wording that stated that this money would be "subject to appropriation by the
legislature." He added that he was interested in other peoples' thoughts about how to make
initiative petitions more “iron clad” so that they are not being raided in difficult
economic times. Dr. Koh also responded to Dr. Primack's earlier comment regarding the
"natural experiment" in Massachusetts and mentioned Stan Glanz's findings in California that
when the funding and media stopped, consumption went up, and when the program and media came
back, consumption went back down.
Dr. Carmona thanked Dr. Koh for his comments, and agreed that this issue of "competing
interests" is a very difficult one. People working in prevention need to unite and not
position one group against the needs of another.
Thomas Hertz, Office of the Secretary, HHS, followed the discussion of prevention by talking
about how the public health community could do a better job of linking prevention and
treatment messages together. He offered the example of the high price of prescription drugs,
and how many of the conditions people have that require these drugs are preventable.
Nicolas Trane, M.D., Blank Children's and Methodist Hospital, suggested that the Surgeon
General should make statements and policy recommendations specifically targeted and directed
toward children and youth. Dr. Carmona responded by saying that he thought it was a good
idea, and would be happy to work with a group to determine the correct messages and the
appropriate way to reach and motivate children.
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