LSHTM - May -The Future of Tobacco Control in Australia: High-, Low- or No-tech?

In Australia in 2010 around 17% of adults still smoked cigarettes. In this paper we report work that we have done over the past 8 years assessing three types of strategies (hi, low and no tech) for reducing smoking prevalence under 10% by 2020 (a target recently set by the Australian government). The high technology strategies include: improving smoking cessation by screening smokers, and vaccinating smokers against the effects of nicotine. The low technology approach is nicotine harm reduction: encouraging smokers who are unable or unwilling to quit to switch to using non-smoked forms of tobacco, such as e-cigarettes. Among the leading no technology options is a de facto prohibition of smoked tobacco. We discuss the likely health impacts of these strategies and their ethical and public policy implications.

Speaker: Professor Wayne Hall (co-author Coral Gartner) University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research