Present and Future Challenges in Tobacco Control

Dear Colleagues,

Tobacco control policies have made significant advances in the last 10 years. However, there are still some points to improve in order to end the tobacco epidemic and taking into account the fact that policymakers must use existing strategies that have been proven effective in reducing tobacco prevalence, and must explore innovative tactics to achieve the endgame for tobacco use. The scope of this Special Issue is to highlight present and future challenges that tobacco control research faces. As follows, some of this are going to be detailed.

• Tobacco control policies, particularly increases in prices, are generally focused on conventional cigarettes, whereas other tobacco products receive relatively little attention, increasing the gap between their prices;
• Another form of tobacco use to take into account is electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). The potential risks and benefits of e-cigarette in the medium and long term are still unknown, which has generated intense debate in scientific journals and in the media;
• Plain packaging, as evidence to support its implementation was obtained in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, UK, Norway, Belgium, France, Italy, Brazil, and India;
• Further implementation of smoke-free policies are mainly focused on closed public spaces. For instance, in Spain, tobacco control legislation includes a ban on smoking in specific outdoor spaces, such as playground enclosures, school enclosures, and hospital enclosures. However, in some cases, such as schools, hospitals, and terraces of bars and restaurants, some clarifications need to be done as some controversy can be found. In this regard, there is, at present, an open debate on whether smoke-free legislation should be extended to private settings, with some suggesting that this could further reduce the social acceptability of public tobacco use, thereby promoting smoking cessation efforts and positively benefitting the health of the entire population. Another area to consider in the future of smoke-free legislation may be in relation to households, as they are usually the main source of exposure to tobacco in children. Nonetheless, SHS in private venues remains a challenge and further research on the topic is needed;
• Third-hand smoke, also known as ‘residual tobacco smoke’ or ‘aged tobacco smoke’, refers to the combination of gases and particles persisting, in the indoor environment (including cushions and carpeting among other) and in smoker's hair, skin, and clothing, long after tobacco smoke has cleared from a room. Although exposure to secondhand smoke is a well-established problem in our context, exposure to third-hand smoke in individuals is virtually unknown and needs to be studied;
• Nicotine dependence: Tobacco control legislations are usually more focused on protecting non-smokers, however, there is a need to implement better treatment policies to help smokers stop smoking as they may not be receiving the help needed to succeed when trying to stop smoking. In this sense, the hardening hypothesis suggests that smokers in the populations who quit over the time are those who are less dependent, and the remaining smokers are more dependent. In addition, most commonly used measures to quantify dependence in smokers focused on conventional cigarettes, however, given the switch of smokers to other tobacco products, this measures should be redefined and validated to better measure tobacco dependence.

Dr. Cristina Lidón-Moyano
Guest Editor

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• smoking control
• third-hand smoke, smoke exposure determinants
• tobacco control policies
• nicotine dependence
• roll-your-own cigarettes
• electronic cigarettes
• tobacco consumption and exposure biomarkers