London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

The public health community and the Government need to learn the lessons of history in formulating effective approaches to reducing the adverse health effects of tobacco consumption, delegates at a public seminar at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine will be told later today.

As the European Commission moves to ban the use of terms such as 'light' and 'mild' in relation to tobacco, and the public health debate over the potential risks and benefits of tobacco 'harm reduction' begins anew, Dr Mark Parascandola, a historian of public health based in Washington DC, and Dr Virginia Berridge of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine's History Unit will warn of the need to learn from the strengths and weaknesses of earlier efforts both in the UK and the US to promote the development of 'reduced risk' tobacco products.

Dr Parascandola will talk about the US National Cancer Institute (NCI)'s Smoking and Health Program which from 1967 until 1980 conducted research, in collaboration with academic institutions and tobacco industry scientists, into the development of a 'less hazardous cigarette' containing reduced tar and nicotine levels and other modifications.

In the mid-1960s there was strong support from the public health community for this. The Program funded more than $50 million in research during this period, but only 3% of funds went to other areas of smoking and health research, such as the smoking prevention and cessation efforts which are more prevalent today. However, by 1977 there had been a shift in attitudes among the public health community and the NCI programme was being criticised for doing more to aid the tobacco industry than to promote public health.

Professor Berridge will focus on the divisions within public health in the UK in the 1970s, when the Independent Scientific Committee on Smoking and Health focused on the 'safer cigarette' and the development of tobacco substitutes. By the end of the decade, however, mainstream public health had developed down a different route, and hostility to the tobacco industry became the norm. Professor Berridge will highlight how British attitudes to safer smoking have been distinctively different to those adopted in the US, and draw historical parallels between the ideas of 'moderation' professed by the anti-opium and temperance movements.

The event starts at 5.00 pm and is being hosted by the School's History Unit. It will be held in the Manson Lecture Theatre at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine at Keppel Street, London WC1. If you would like to attend in a media capacity or would like to interview Dr Parascandola, please contact the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's Press Office on 020 7927 2073.

Ends.