Cancer Center members Dorothy Hatsukami, Ph.D., and Jean Forster, Ph.D., M.P.H., gave presentations at the National Institutes of Health State-of-the-Science Conference on Tobacco Use Prevention, Cessation, and Control, June 12-14, 2006 in Bethesda, Md.

Hatsukami, who is co-leader of the Masonic Cancer Center's Prevention and Etiology Research Program and co-director of the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center, spoke during a session on the effect of smokeless tobacco marketing and use. Her presentation,"Changing product/new tobacco delivery system," focused on research findings about smokeless tobacco and cigarette manufacturers' strategy to circumvent smoking bans and restrictions by marketing smokeless tobacco products as a replacement for cigarettes. Read the abstract forthis presentation. (PDF)

Forster, who is a professor in the School of Public Health's

Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, presented "Policy interventions and surveillance" during a session about effective population and community-based interventions to prevent tobacco use in adolescents and young adults, including among diverse populations. Her presentation focused on policies to restrict exposure of youth and young adults to environmental tobacco smoke, and youth access to tobacco through an excise tax and surveillance systems. Read the abstract for this presentation. (PDF)

Participants at the three-day conference reviewed the available evidence about tobacco-use prevention, cessation, and control; and discussed what research gaps remain. Their goal was to better understand how effective strategies for prevention and treatment can be developed and implemented across diverse segments of the population to accelerate progress on the "Healthy People 2010" objective of reducing smoking prevalence to 12 percent or less in adults and 16 percent or less in youth.