Report Offers Comprehensive Look at Global Smokeless Tobacco Use
, by NCI Staff
NCI's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2014 Report on Smokeless Tobacco and Public Health: A Global Perspective.
For more than half a century, following the 1964 report of the Surgeon General, Smoking and Health, scientific research and global tobacco control efforts have been directed against cigarette smoking. But in some parts of the world, other forms of tobacco, including many forms of smokeless tobacco, may pose an equal or greater threat to health.
In response, in December, NCI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Smokeless Tobacco and Public Health: A Global Perspective, the first-ever report on the global use of smokeless tobacco and its impact on health. Among the report’s findings: more than 300 million people worldwide use smokeless tobacco products, and these products cause oral cancer, esophageal cancer, and pancreatic cancer, among other diseases.
The report captures trends in smokeless tobacco use in regions around the world, including the types of products in use, usage among different population groups, and marketing practices. It shows that “expanded research and surveillance efforts are critically needed to support effective action to reduce the burden of smokeless tobacco worldwide,” said Mark Parascandola, Ph.D., M.P.H., of NCI’s Tobacco Control Research Branch, a co-editor of the report.
Among its activities in this area, NCI has partnered with several international organizations to strengthen research on global tobacco control, explained Ted Trimble, M.D., director of NCI’s Center for Global Health.
The full report, executive summary, and fact sheets on the wide variety of smokeless tobacco products used around the world are now available on NCI’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences website.