ENSP-ECTC 2020 The European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP) will hold its 5th European Conference on Tobacco Control (ENSP-ECTC) online. Presentations will be available virtually. Watch here for further details. TFRI has had three papers accepted for presentation at this year's online conference: Prof Luke Clancy,Changes in breathing during exposure to SHS in outside smoking areas of pubs with asthma and COPD in 3 EU countries Dr Joan Hanafin & Prof Luke Clancy, Does e-cigarette use support smoking cessation? A qualitative study of why young people use e-cigarettes in Ireland Dr Joan Hanafin & Prof Luke Clancy, A secondary analysis of Tobacco-Related Health Education in schools in 7 European cities and recommendations for change
Irish Thoracic Society Annual Scientific Meeting 2020 The ITS Annual Scientific Meeting 2020 will take place on 3rd and 4th December. Watch here for further details.
WCTOH News
The Leadership Summit on Tobacco or Health is to take place 6-7 May 2021 with Mike Bloomberg to deliver the keynote address at the inaugural Session and Stephen Donnelly Minister for Health, Ireland to address the Summit Opening Plenary For further information see https://wctoh.org 18TH WORLD CONFERENCE ON TOBACCO OR HEALTHDublin March 9-11th 2021. Re-scheduled - see more WCTOH events below in News section.
Milestones and Challenges of Medical Research On 26th September 2020, Prof Luke Clancy, Director General, TFRI gave a presentation entitled Role of Research in Changing Dublin Smog Forever to FIRMST SS#02 Milestones and Challenges on Medical Research - Panel Discussion
This webinar reviewed the literature on the relationship between smoking and COVID-19 available to date; examined the biological mechanisms and risk factors influencing susceptibility to infection; and discussed opportunities afforded by the pandemic to progress tobacco control and reduce tobacco related deaths.
Prof Luke Clancy, Director General of the TobaccoFree Research Institute Ireland (TFRI) Dublin, facilitated discussion between expert speakers Dr Silvano Gallus, Dr Janice Leung and Dr Catherine O. Egbe.
The webinar aimed to: · Make sense of the published results on the prevalence and severity of COVID-19 in smokers · Understand the biological mechanisms at play in the interaction between smoking and Sars-CoV-2, and ACE-2 at organ level in COVID-19 disease · Equip policy makers to prepare for the risks and opportunities which may arise in tobacco control during the COVID-19 pandemic.
1st Satellite Event of FIRMST- Forum for Interdisciplinary Research in Medical Science & Technology Panel Discussion on Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Abstract Presentations by young scientists (under 35 years) 23rd of August 2020. https://www.firmst.tech/
TACK SHS: Tackling tobacco-related chronic diseases in Europe: 8_october_tackshs_icolc.docx Novel data from the Horizon 2020 TackSHS project reveals the results of exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) from cigarettes and second-hand aerosols (SHA) from electronic cigarettes on the respiratory health of European population, the burden of associated mortality and morbidity, and economic consequences for national and European welfare. Press release from final conference.
New Irish research shows “Allen Carr” is successful for smoking cessation: New study has just been published in the BMJ’s Tobacco Control journal which shows results of the first published Randomised Clinical trial in the world demonstrating that Allen Carr ‘s Easyway to stop smoking is a highly effective treatment to help smokers quit. Full Paper available here.
TFRI deliverable 'Development of policy recommendations' used the empirical evidence generated in the project to develop recommendations for the prevention of youth smoking. More detailed recommendations can be found here.
Youth turning to cheaper Roll Your Own Tobacco Products: Newspaper Link
Tobacco Free Ireland (‘TFI’), the report of the Tobacco Policy Review Group, was endorsed by Government and published in October 2013. An Action Plan for TFI was published in March 2015 and one of its actions committed the Department of Health to publish an annual report on the implementation of the Plan.Considerable progress was made in 2017 in implementing the Action Plan as set out in detail in the Annual Report.
TOB-g project launched its e-learning course November 2017. The Tob-g e-course constitutes a key part of this important project. This course is based on the structure and material of the Tob-g guidelines. Its aim is to provide an individualised approach to smoking cessation within five clearly distinctive sub-populations of smokers, who obviously cannot continue to be treated as a single entity. Teenagers, cardiovascular patients, pregnant women, patients with diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) belong to clearly distinct groups and reasonably so require a tailored approach to treatment.
The first new building to be constructed on the Dublin Institute of Technology Grangegorman campus has been opened.The Greenway Hub will be home to the institution’s postgraduate researchers as well as those commercialising their research and growing spin-out companies. The 5-storey €17 million euro building will host DIT’s Environmental Sustainability and Health Institute (ESHI) with researchers working in areas like vision science, food and water quality, energy, bio monitoring and diagnostics, and health policy development. More news:
Global Public Health Advocates Open New Fronts in War on TobaccoVienna, Austria—December 5, 2016—Efforts to control tobacco as a public health threat have escalated as clinicians and public health advocates have coalesced to beat back threats from tobacco companies through public advocacy, public health, and pension reform. Read more
ESPAD Ireland 2015 published, 20th September, 2016 Ireland’s 2015 report on the European Schools Project on Alcohol & other Drugs in Ireland (ESPAD) finds a dramatic reduction in teenage drinking and smoking but concerns over e-cigarettes, drugs and gambling. Smoking and drinking among 15-16 year-old school students are falling dramatically, but challenges posed by illicit drug use remain. In this age group, Ireland has much lower levels of drinking, binge drinking and smoking than the European average, but higher use of cannabis, inhalants and other drugs. Find out more here.
European Court of Justice upholds Tobacco Products Directive:Great news from the European Court of Justice – all three challenges against the EU Tobacco Products Directive were rejected today May 4th 2016. The Court rejected the challenge brought by Philip Morris and British American Tobacco which sought to invalidate the TPD as a whole, or alternatively various provisions of the Directive including, inter alia, mandatory large pictorial warnings, the ban on characterising flavours and measures concerning tracking and tracing.
An assessment of the economic costs of smoking in Ireland: Key findings: It is estimated that smoking causes 5,870 deaths per annum with an additional 92 per annum as a result of exposure to second hand smoke (SHS). This is an increase from an estimated 5,200 deaths per annum previously calculated, the increase is due to more cancers and respiratory diseases being attributable to smoking than heretofore. Healthcare costs The estimated cost to the healthcare system as a result of smoking is over a half a billion euro (€506 million) as outlined below: · Hospital based costs €211 million · Primary care costs €256 million · Domiciliary care costs €40 million.
