NOV/DEC 2006
Volume 12 - No. 4
SRNT Newsletter
November/December 2006, Volume 12, Number 4
Nicotine Research Grant Funding Update
The Tobacco and Nicotine Research Interest Group (TANRIG) consists of representatives from the NIH and the CDC who seek to increase collaboration, coordination, and communication of tobacco- and nicotine-related research across NIH Institutes and Centers and with other DHHS agencies. The TANRIG is co-chaired by Allison Chausmer (NIDA) and Ed Trapido (NCI) who can provide additional information about TANRIG.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) have announced a new Smoke-Free Meeting Policy. In recognition of the threat environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) poses to the public's health as summarized recently in the U.S. Surgeon General's report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, the NCI and NIDA have adopted a smoke free meeting policy which requires that all meetings and conferences organized or primarily sponsored by NCI or NIDA must be held in a state, county, city, or town that has adopted a comprehensive smoke-free policy, unless specific circumstances justify an exemption. These policies seek to increase awareness of the importance of reducing ETS exposure and to encourage states and localities to adopt comprehensive smoke-free policies. Information on the NCI policy is at available at: http://www.cancercontrol.cancer.gov/tcrb /smokefreemeetingpolicy.html, and information on the NIDA policy is available at: http://www.nida.nih.gov/newsroom/06/NR9-21.html
The final statement of the NIH State-of-the-Science Conference on Tobacco Use: Prevention, Cessation, and Control will be published in Annals of Internal Medicine and is currently available online at:http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/0000605-200612050-00141v1. The final statement and supporting documents can also be found at the NIH OMAR site: http://consensus.nih.gov/2006/2006TobaccoSOS029html.htm . A key finding of the conference and resulting statement was that of the 44.5 million adult smokers in the United States, 70 percent want to quit and 40 percent make a serious quit attempt each year, but fewer than 5 percent succeed in any given year. Effective tobacco cessation interventions are available and could double or triple quit rates, but not enough smokers request or are being offered these interventions. Tobacco use is a major public health concern, and a national, coordinated strategy for tobacco control is needed to address this critical gap.
The Notice on Roadmap Trans-NIH Strategic Initiatives Idea Input and Nomination Process (NOT-RM-06-018) was recently released by NIH Office of the Director and the Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives (OPASI). NIH will soon be seeking voluntary input from the scientific community, health professionals, patient advocates, and the general public about innovative ideas for cross-cutting initiatives that will improve and accelerate biomedical and behavioral research and its impact on the health of the nation. Collecting this information is one of the initial steps in the process of identifying a new cohort of trans-NIH strategic initiatives for Fiscal Year 2008. The RFI will be released mid-October 2006 in the NIH Guide and will provide an opportunity for respondents to comment on ideas nominated to date by NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) and by consultation groups that met during the summer. In addition, this RFI will seek idea nominations from the scientific community, health professionals, patient advocates, and the general public on ways to explicitly address barriers to research; accelerate translation of scientific discoveries into clinical practice; and fill research gaps that do not fall within the mission of any one Institute or Center.
The NIH Genes and Environment Initiative (GEI) has released a number of recent Exposure Biology RFAs in which tobacco exposure is an area of interest. The Genes and Environment Initiative (GEI) is a four-year, NIH-wide program that aims to accelerate understanding of genetic and environmental contributions to health and disease. The Exposure Biology Program will focus on the development of innovative technologies to measure environmental exposures, diet, physical activity, psychosocial stress, and addictive substances that contribute to the development of disease. The program will support: (1) development of environmental sensors for measurement of chemicals, dietary intake, physical activity, and psychosocial stressors and addictive substances; (2) development of markers of biological response via common pathogenic mechanisms such as oxidative stress, epigenetic modifications, and DNA damage; (3) integration of biological responses with the development of biosensors; and (4) application of novel assays and biomarkers to studies of gene-environment interaction. More information on these RFAs can be found at: http://www.gei.nih.gov/exposurebiology/index.asp .
The NCI awarded a five year, $15 million R & D contract on September 15, 2006 to Georgetown University to advance scientific knowledge about the toxic and addictive properties of tobacco products marketed by the tobacco industry with claims that imply reduced harm. The contract will support research to study the chemical and physical properties of different tobacco products, characterize the ways in which behavior affects exposure to tobacco toxins, and develop methods and biomarkers to measure exposure and risk for tobacco-related diseases. More information is available at: http://www.cancercontrol.cancer.gov/tcrb/research_topic-tp-study.html.
The Low Socioeconomic Status (SES) Women and Girls Project launched its website on September 22, 2006. The Project, initiated by the Tobacco Research Network on Disparities [TReND] examines the effects of tobacco control policies on low SES women and girls. The Project aims to stimulate new research, review existing research, and inform the development and implementation of policies that may reduce tobacco use among low SES women and girls. A link to the newly published Tobacco Control Policy and Low Socioeconomic Status Women and Girls special journal issue in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health is available on the Project webpage at http://www.cancercontrol.cancer.gov/tcrb/ses_women-girls_project/index.html.