Tobacco: Science, Policy and Public Health

Nigel Gray graduated in Medicine in 1953 in Melbourne, Australia, and specialized in infectious disease and paediatrics until 1968 when he was appointed Director of the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria. From 1974 to 1990 he chaired the Tobacco Program of the International Union Against Cancer (UICC). In 1987 he was the principal architect of the Victorian Tobacco Act, which provided for the first hypothecated tobacco tax, which was directed to the Victorian HealthPromotion Foundation. Since 1995 he has worked internationally on Tobacco control, for eight years at the European Institute for Oncology in Milan and then at the International Agency for Research on cancer (IARC). During this time he has lectured extensively on the international scene with aparticular interest in Tobacco Control policy and most recently on regulation of constituents and emissions of tobacco, both smoked and smokeless. He is currently a member of the WHO Study Group on Tobacco Regulation.Dr. Jack E. Henningfield is a scientist trained in behavioural, pharmacological, and neurosciences, specializing in addictive drugs. He received his doctorate from the Psychopharmacology Training Program of the University of Minnesota in 1977. His research has spanned addictive drugs including alcohol, barbiturates, cocaine, marijuana, morphine and nicotine, including extensive research and applied work in the assessment and control of prescription drug abuse. Dr. Henningfield has been onfaculty at The Johns Hopkins Medical School since 1978 and is affiliated as well with The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. His current professional activities at the health policy consulting group, Pinney Associates in Bethesda, Maryland, focuses on the intersection of science, publichealth, and policy, as related to tobacco, prescription drugs, and illicit drugs of abuse.John Seffrin has been CEO of the American Cancer Society since 1992. He is a past president of the Geneva-headquartered International Union Against Cancer, the first globally-oriented cancer non-governmental organization (NGO). He served as chairman of the board of Independent Sector, the largest coalition of nonprofit groups, and he helped to create the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids (now the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids), among his many collaborations and affiliations. In 1999, Dr.Seffrin was selected to be a charter member of C-Change (formerly known as the National Dialogue on Cancer) Steering Committee. In 1997, he was appointed to the National Cancer Policy Board of the Institute of Medicine, and in 1999, he was appointed by Senator Dianne Feinstein to co-chair the NationalCancer Legislation Advisory Committee. He current serves on the Advisory Committee to the Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a Secretary-level appointment.Dr Witold Zatonski is a Director and Professor in the Division of Epidemiology & Cancer Prevention Center & Institute of Oncology in Warsaw, Poland. In the last 10 years Professor Zato?ski has been especially actively involved in work on health in Eastern Europe. Together with his team he has just finished challenging comprehensive research project HEM - Closing the Gap, analysing the health gap, and its causes, between eastern and western part of European Union. He has been at theforefront of public health and tobacco control in Poland, Eastern Europe, and internationally for more than 35 years. Though a passionate activist, Dr Zato?ski is also a meticulous researcher, and he has consistently backed his public health campaigns with scientific data. His approach has been effective, andmany consider him to be single-handedly responsible for the over 30 percent decline in smoking in Poland over the last 25 years.