The U.S. Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline: Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence, first released in 1996, and updated in 2000, has been updated once again. A draft will be reviewed by 50-100 researchers and practitioners in the second half of 2007. At the same time, a draft will be made available for review and comment by individuals. The Guideline Panel will notify all of us regarding this opportunity via the SRNT listerv. I urge everyone who is interested to participate in the process of review and commentary.

The update will not only review and augment the existing evidence-based categories of interventions, it will also, by virtue of the addition of new studies, permit more formal evaluations of, for example, newer pharmacotherapies, existing pharmacotherapies and combination treatments for which there was insufficient evidence upon which to make recommendations, and efficacy of treatments in special populations including pregnant women, adolescents, and those suffering from co-occurring mental health conditions.

As the press for evidence based medicine or practice (EBP) continues, it is important to bear in mind that one purpose of EBP, as embodied in the Guideline, is to allocate treatment resources in a logical and consistent manner whereby individuals receive the best, affordable treatments available, decreasing the population prevalence of tobacco use in as cost effective a manner as possible. However, the Guideline is not the only tool available to help achieve this goal. Treatobacco.net (http://treatobacco.net/) is a website produced and maintained by the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, in association with the World Bank, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Cochrane Group and a panel of international experts. The website maintains a database that includes five sections, covering key areas in the treatment and control of tobacco dependence: Efficacy, Safety, Demographics and Health Effects, Health Economics, and Policy. Much like the PHS Guideline, key findings are reviewed, recommendations are offered, and areas for further research are identified. Slide kits are available, as are links to other sites which offer evidence based reviews, such as the Cochrane collection. Treatobacco.net's reach is designed to be global. An enduring challenge for any EBP is to determine whether and how it can be disseminated and generalize across individuals and settings, including tobacco users in different countries and cultures across the globe. It is only through this kind of effort, though, that we can hope to optimize prevention and intervention strategies that are not only efficacious but sustainable, in order to reduce the global burden of tobacco use and its awful consequences.