Program Leader Sharon M. Hall, PhD Program Co-Leader Stanton Glantz, PhD

Approximately one-third of overall cancer mortality in the U.S. today is attributable to tobacco use, and for some specific sites (lung, oral cavity, and esophagus) the tobacco-related fraction is considerably higher. Therefore, reducing tobacco consumption is among our highest priorities. Since tobacco prevention and control activities have the potential to dramatically affect many cancers and other diseases, the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center has established a unique Tobacco Control Program, comprising 20 faculty investigators, in order to focus research and expertise on this far-reaching health problem.

UCSF has nationally recognized tobacco control researchers whose work has contributed substantially to what is known about nicotine addiction, the effectiveness of legislative and other policies designed to reduce tobacco use, culturally appropriate tobacco control interventions for various subgroups of the population, estimates of the costs to society of tobacco use, and other areas. The Tobacco Control Program brings together these researchers and stimulates plans for collaboration and for the development of shared resources that benefit multiple program members. The Tobacco Control Program also works synergistically with the newly established UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, of which Stanton Glantz is director.

The long-term goals of the program are to:

• understand how the tobacco industry acts as a disease vector, spreading cancer, heart disease, and other diseases around the world;
• understand how the tobacco industry interferes with scientific and publc policy making processes to protect its interests;
• conduct research on legislative and other tobacco-related policies, including examining the formation and implementation of such policies, analyzing the effectiveness of such policies in reducing tobacco use and exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke, and assessing the quality and dissemination of tobacco-related research;
• document the nature and extent of media and other external influences on tobacco use in our society;
• conduct clinical and laboratory investigations of mechanisms of nicotine addiction that can translate into more effective tobacco cessation methods;
• promote understanding of the effects of tobacco use and of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke on risk of various cancers, including studies of genetic markers of susceptibility (gene-tobacco interactions) and investigation of racial/ethnic differences in measures of tobacco exposure and tobacco-related disease risks;
• assess the safety and feasibility of harm reduction strategies in smokers who are unable to quit smoking;
• determine effective approaches for tobacco prevention and cessation in defined populations through monitoring and surveillance of community-based tobacco control programs; and
• provide estimates of the economic costs of tobacco use to society.

Additionally, more short-term goals of the Tobacco Control Program are to:

• investigate possible differences in nicotine susceptibility by gender and race/ethnic group, and explore the usefulness of biological (including genetic) and psychosocial markers as indicators of risk for development of nicotine dependence;
• develop novel biochemical markers (such as minor tobacco alkaloids) to quantify tobacco exposure and validating self-reports of tobacco use, or cessation of use, in different racial/ethnic groups;
• develop novel markers of tobacco smoke or tobacco tar exposure specific to different tobacco-based products and that could possibly be used as biomarkers to study cancer risk associated with different tobacco products;
• investigate improved techniques for tobacco prevention or cessation in defined populations, in particular ethnic populations, psychiatric patients who smoke cigarettes and athletes who use smokeless tobacco;
• investigate predictors and markers in cigarette smokers of the development or progression of lung cancer, including biomarkers of genetic differences in the rate of nicotine or carcinogen metabolism;
• examine the feasibility and safety of a cigarette nicotine reduction strategy that would ultimately lead to the marketing of only non-addicting cigarettes (a strategy that is currently being considered by tobacco regulatory authorities around the world);
• evaluate the impact of the rapidly changing tobacco control environment (particularly the tobacco control initiatives made possible through the monies accruing from tobacco company settlements with the states) on tobacco consumption patterns;
• document the nature and extent of external media influences on tobacco use, with particular attention to media targeted to young people and racial/ethnic groups;
• systematically study documents that have been made available as a result of litigation against the tobacco industry to identify findings of potential scientific and public health value related to the health effects of smoking and passive smoking; efforts by the industry to undermine tobacco control; and industry strategies used to promote tobacco use and disrupt scientific research, as well as to compare the public position of the tobacco industry in relation to what it actually knew; and
• investigate the relationship between smoking and other cancer-related behaviors, such as alcohol consumption, diet, and exercise among adolescents of diverse ethnic groups.

 

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Links to More Tobacco-Control Resources at UCSF

Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education
The Center encompasses the work of 29 faculty members, their students, fellows and staff, who are committed to research, cessation, training and education designed each year. This work extends from basic studies of nicotine pharmacology through the health effects of smoking and secondhand smoke to action-oriented policy interventions.

Legacy Tobacco Documents Library
The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library is a digital library of internal tobacco industry documents from the files of top tobacco companies, made possible by the UCSF Library and the American Legacy Foundation. The library offers searching, viewing, and downloading of over 20 million documents, which relate to scientific research, manufacturing, marketing, advertising and sales of cigarettes, among other topics.

UCSF Tobacco Control Archives
Sponsored by the UCSF Library and Center for Knowledge Management, Department of Archives/Special Collections, this is a central, organized source of information with the purpose of collecting, preserving, and providing access to papers, unpublished documents, and electronic resources relevant to tobacco control issues, primarily in California.

Smoke Free Movies
Hollywood stars attract millions of moviegoers. Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, Brown and Williamson, and other big tobacco companies then addict and kill them, making billions in profits. This site uncovers that story.

TobaccoScam
For years, the tobacco industry has used and abused the restaurant and bar industry to defend its own billions of dollars in profits. Get the facts on Big Tobacco's scam.

Reports on Tobacco Control
Online library of reports on tobacco control from UCSF and beyond.