August 19, 2009

UCSF, UC Hastings Experts to Discuss Implementing Tobacco Control Act

Stanton Glantz

The UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy, with the Hastings Science & Technology Law Journal, is sponsoring a conference at UC Hastings, titled “Implementing the Tobacco Control Act: Advice to FDA,” on Friday, Aug. 28.

The UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium is dedicated to supporting interdisciplinary collaboration among faculty and staff at both universities who are interested in myriad intersections between law and science, from assisted reproductive care to clinical services for the underserved. The consortium focuses its efforts in education, research and community service.

The conference is free and open to the public and is intended to promote discussion and develop responses to the Food and Drug Administration’s request for recommendations on how to best achieve the nation’s new goals regarding tobacco.

President Barack Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 on June 22 for the first time giving significant regulatory power over tobacco products to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA is charged with implementing the new statute, and has asked the public to comment on the approaches and actions it should take initially to “increase the likelihood of reducing the incidence and prevalence of tobacco product use and protecting the public health.” Some of the key elements of this legislation include overseeing science-based regulation of tobacco products, requiring full disclosure of ingredients and additives in tobacco products, stopping youth-focused marketing of tobacco products and adding new warning labels to cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products.

At the UCSF/UC Hastings conference, experts on the many scientific, legal, and policy issues surrounding tobacco control will gather to share ideas for FDA implementation of the new law. Proceedings from the conference will be filed as comments with FDA.

The conference, which runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., will be at UC Hastings College of the Law, 200 McAllister St., San Francisco. Four hour-long panels will address the following topics:

Federal, state, and local government collaboration (10 a.m.);
Advertising, marketing, sale, and distribution of tobacco products (11:15 a.m.);
Smoking cessation and tobacco addiction (2:30 p.m.); and
Prevention of tobacco use (3:45 p.m.).

Stanton Glantz, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at UCSF, will deliver a keynote address at 1:30 p.m.

Participants may attend any or all parts of the program. Lunch will be provided in the Skyroom, located at 100 McAllister St., to a limited number of participants who pre-register to attend the conference.

To register, email your name and affiliation, if any, to [email protected] or call 415/565-4676. Please specify whether you will be joining us for lunch. More information, including details about the panel topics and names and biographies of the speakers, will be available at www.uchastings.edu/tobacco.

Here are the featured panelists:

Federal, State, and Local Government Collaboration:
Dorie Apollonio, adjunct assistant professor, Dept. of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, UCSF
Dennis Eckhart, senior assistant attorney general, State of California
Jeanne Finberg, deputy attorney general, State of California
Caroline Joyce, director, Government Affairs, American Legacy Foundation
Leslie Zellers, legal director, Technical Assistance Legal Center
Moderator: Richard Barnes, researcher, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UCSF; adjunct assistant professor of law, UC Hastings College of the Law

Advertising, Marketing, Sale, and Distribution of Tobacco Products:
Stacey Anderson, honorary lecturer in epidemiology and public health, University of Nottingham (England)
Ashutosh Bhagwat, professor of law, UC Hastings College of the Law
Pamela Ling, associate professor in residence, Department of Medicine, UCSF
Calvin Massey, professor of law, UC Hastings College of the Law
Moderator: David L. Faigman, John F. Digardi Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Hastings College of the Law

Smoking Cessation and Tobacco Addiction:
Neal Benowitz, professor of nedicine, Biopharmaceutical Sciences, Psychiatry and Clinical Pharmacy; Leader, Tobacco Control Group, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCSF
Sharon Hall, professor of psychiatry, School of Medicine, UCSF
Lisa Kroon, professor of clinical pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, UCSF
Steven A. Schroeder, Distinguished Professor of Health and Health Care, and director, Smoking Cessation Leadership Center, UCSF
Moderator: Jaime King, associate professor of law, UC Hastings College of the Law

Prevention of Tobacco Use:
Phillip Gardiner, social and behavioral sciences research administrator, Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, UC Office of the President
Vera Harrell, research assistant, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, UCSF
Paul Keye, president, Paul Keye & Partners, Culver City, CA
Moderator: Daniel Dohan, associate professor, Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, School of Medicine, UCSF

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