European regulatory science on tobacco:policy implementation to reduce lung diseases
Smoking and other forms of tobacco consumption are considered the single most important cause of preventable morbidity and premature mortality worldwide. Efforts to reduce the devastation of tobacco-related deaths and illness in the EU consist of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), and the ongoing implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The main objective of EUREST-PLUS is to monitor and evaluate the impact of the TPD within the context of FCTC ratification at an EU level. Our 4 specific objectives hence are: 1) To evaluate the psychosocial and behavioral impact of TPD implementation and FCTC implementation, through the creation of a longitudinal cohort of adult smokers in 6 EU MS (Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Spain; total n=6000) in a pre- vs. post-TPD study design. 2) To assess support for TPD implementation through secondary dataset analyses of the Special Eurobarometer on Tobacco Surveys (SETS), cross-sectional surveys performed among 27,000 adults in all 28 EU MS, before the TPD is implemented and to monitor progress in FCTC implementation in the EU over the past years through trend analyses on the merged datasets of the 2009, 2012 and 2015 SETS datasets (n=80,000). 3) To document changes in e-cigarette product parameters (technical design, labelling/packaging and chemical composition) following implementation of Article 20 of the TPD. 4) To enhance innovative joint research collaborations, through the pooling and comparisons across both other EU countries of the ITC Project (UK, NL, FR), and other non-EU countries . Tackling tobacco use is quintessential to reducing the impact of chronic NCDs, a topic EUREST-PLUS will stride to lead.