Tobacco Control: A Spotlight on Industry

Announcements

22 June 2017

In early May, we launched the new Evidence to Guide Action: Comprehensive Tobacco Control in Ontario (2016) report, which provides a comprehensive assessment of 56 tobacco control interventions and highlights their impact on reducing tobacco use and associated burden in Ontario. The report is organized into four main chapters which align with the four pillars of tobacco control: industry, prevention, protection and cessation.

The Industry chapter outlines 17 tobacco control interventions and their potential contribution to counter the tobacco industry’s efforts to promote and sell their product. The chapter was written by a working group made up of tobacco prevention scientists and experts and led by Dr. Robert Schwartz, Executive Director of the Ontario Tobacco Reduction Unit.

The Industry chapter is important because it looks at ways to decrease and eventually eliminate the use of use of tobacco by focusing on interventions aimed at the tobacco industry and products.

“For the first time this chapter takes a tobacco endgame frame,” states Dr. Schwartz. “It is really delightful to say that the federal government has adopted a tobacco endgame goal of reaching less than five per cent of the population using tobacco by the year 2035.”

— Dr. Robert Schwartz, Executive Director, Ontario Tobacco Reduction Unit

A tobacco endgame frame defines strategies that address tobacco control at a system level (structural, political and social) in order to achieve and end to the tobacco epidemic. Tobacco endgame strategies are largely focused on the tobacco industry as part of a comprehensive tobacco control policy using approaches to address:

  • patterns of use
  • new products and users
  • changing populations of users
  • industry efforts to expand the market

Importance of the Industry chapter

This chapter can be used to:

  • learn about emerging and innovative approaches to addressing the tobacco industry
  • identify strategies for reducing the number of new and current tobacco users and achieving an end of the tobacco epidemic
  • understand the tobacco industry’s role in producing, marketing and delivering tobacco products to consumers 

More information on the report

To read the full report or view a recording of the webcast showcasing highlights from the report, please visit the Evidence to Guide Action: Comprehensive Tobacco Control in Ontario (2016) webpage. 

Stay tuned to our PHO in Action blog for more chapter spotlights over the next month.

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Communications

communications@oahpp.ca

Updated 22 June 2017