WATERLOO, Ont. (Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011) - A University of Waterloo professor, Geoffrey Fong, has received the largest operating grant ever awarded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for his team's groundbreaking work on tobacco smoking control policies around the world.
Fong, a professor of psychology and health studies, is receiving $7.4 million over five years (2011-2016) to support the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project). The ITC Project was created by Fong and his colleagues in 2002 and now is measuring the effect of tobacco control policies in 20 countries in order to provide policy-makers with evidence to adopt stronger tobacco control policies. The new CIHR grant exceeds the previous five-year grant of $3.88 million awarded for the ITC Project in 2005.
"Tobacco-related illness is a largely preventable global public health challenge and research is an essential component of effective tobacco reduction strategies," said Nancy Edwards, scientific director of the CIHR Institute of Population and Public Health. "The ITC Project illustrates how critically important the links are between research, evidence and policy making."
The World Health Organization has identified tobacco use as the world's leading preventable cause of death. In this century, it is projected that one billion people may die of tobacco use and that the toll will be greatest in low- and middle-income countries.
As well, tobacco use is the single most important cause of non-communicable diseases, accounting for close to one-third of all such diseases throughout the world.
The ITC Project is the only international research effort that focuses on evaluating the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world's first health treaty, which was adopted in 2003 by all 192 countries of the WHO. The treaty lists a wide range of tobacco control policies, including enhanced warning labels, bans and restrictions on advertising and promotion, increased taxation and smoke-free laws.
"Over the years, professor Fong and the ITC Project teams throughout the world have demonstrated the power of scientific research to advance the cause of evidence-based policies in fighting the global tobacco epidemic," said Douglas Bettcher, director of the Tobacco-Free Initiative, a project of WHO. "We applaud the Canadian Government through CIHR for its continued support of this groundbreaking research endeavour."
The new CIHR grant expands the ITC Project, which involves more than 100 tobacco control experts and researchers and over a thousand support staff across the 23 ITC countries. These countries are inhabited by more than 50 per cent of the world's population and over 70 per cent of the world's tobacco users.
The project uses rigorous survey methods to answer key questions: Do graphic warnings lead to increased motivation to quit? Are smoke-free laws effective in reducing smoking in public places? Do higher taxes on cigarettes lead to shifts to other forms of tobacco (for example, bidis in Bangladesh and India) rather than to quitting?
"Our findings have been used throughout the world to promote strong evidence-based tobacco control policies," said Fong, founder of the ITC Project. "ITC research findings have been particularly useful in low- and middle-income countries, where the tobacco industry is aggressively moving to expand its activity, as smoking in Canada and other high-income countries has been decreasing. The ITC Project has been instrumental in showing that arguments against comprehensive tobacco control laws that often inhibit governments from taking action are invalid."
Specifically, the new funding supports the ongoing ITC Project in Canada and the United States, as well as in India, Bangladesh, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Mauritius, Brazil, Uruguay and Mexico. The money will also support new ITC projects in Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia.
Over the last decade, findings from the ITC Project have made significant contributions to advance effective tobacco control policies in Canada and throughout the world. For example:
• ITC findings in Bangladesh showed that very low taxes and prices are, as in most countries, a primary cause of the increasing rates of tobacco use in that country. The ITC Project team in Bangladesh is working with the National Board of Revenue, in collaboration with WHO, to raise taxes on tobacco products.
• ITC evaluations of smoke-free laws in Europe - contrasting successes in Ireland, France, United Kingdom with poorer outcomes in Germany and the Netherlands - resulted in strong evidence-based findings for countries on how to enact strong and effective smoke-free laws.
• Evaluations of warning labels in low- and middle-income countries - for example, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Malaysia and Thailand, where graphic warnings have been introduced, versus China and Bangladesh, where graphic warnings have not yet been introduced - extended ITC findings to critical high-population countries of the world.
• In his testimony before the Health Standing Committee of Canada's House of Commons last December, Fong presented ITC data from Canada showing that all indicators of label effectiveness had declined over the previous seven years. His evidence was considered highly influential in the government's decision to introduce regulations for new and larger graphic warnings on tobacco products.
• ITC evaluation studies of warning labels provided a significant part of the evidence base that the U.S. Congress used to adopt graphic warning labels, which are scheduled to appear in the U.S. by September 2012.
• ITC surveys in five European countries found that after bars and restaurants go smoke-free, the percentage of smokers with smoke-free homes increases. And among those homes where smoking is still allowed, smokers consume fewer cigarettes. These ITC results provide solid evidence against the argument that after a smoke-free law is implemented in bars and restaurants, smokers are more likely to smoke at home.
"The knowledge created by Dr. Fong and the ITC Project have contributed significantly to tobacco control worldwide," said George Dixon, vice-president, university research. "This project is having an immense impact on the health of lives of millions of people around the globe and we appreciate the support demonstrated by CIHR through this funding."
In 2009, Fong and two ITC Project investigators at Waterloo - Mary Thompson, professor emerita of statistics and actuarial science, and David Hammond, associate professor of health studies and gerontology - received a Top Canadian Achievement in Health Research Award from CIHR and the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Image: Geoffrey Fong, founder, International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project).
About the University of Waterloo
In just half a century, the University of Waterloo, located at the heart of Canada's Technology Triangle, has become one of Canada's leading comprehensive universities with 30,000 full- and part-time students in undergraduate and graduate programs. Waterloo, as home to the world's largest post-secondary co-operative education program, embraces its connections to the world and encourages enterprising partnerships in learning, research and discovery. In the next decade, the university is committed to building a better future for Canada and the world by championing innovation and collaboration to create solutions relevant to the needs of today and tomorrow. For more information about Waterloo, visit www.uwaterloo.ca.
Contacts:
Geoffrey Fong, professor of psychology and health studies, 519-888-4567 ext. 35811, 519-503-4820 or gfong@uwaterloo.ca
David Coulombe, CIHR media relations, 613-941-4563 or mediarelations@cihr.gc.ca
John Morris, Waterloo media relations, 519-888-4435 or john.morris@uwaterloo.ca
Waterloo news release no. 54
