New research body to focus on tobacco

A research institute into smoking and tobacco marketing was launched this afternoon by the Minister for Health for World No Tobacco Day.

Minister for Health, Micheál Martin

The Research Institute for a Tobacco-Free Society was launched to conduct studies on smoking in Ireland from a public health viewpoint.

The Institute's directors are Dr Pat Doorly, director of Public Health with the Midland Health Board andDr Fenton Howell, chairman of ASH Ireland.

The trustees - the Office of Tobacco Control and ASH Ireland - will co-sponsor the institute.

Mr Martin said: "We are in no doubt about the damaging health effects of tobacco but do need a better insight into the behavioural aspects surrounding its use."

"We need to change attitudes to tobacco and discourage smoking. This institute will provide information that can be used to create more effective public policy to combat tobacco use."

Dr Howell said: "Our fight against the dread of nicotine addiction and consequential health problems has been severely restricted by the lack of relevant research in an Irish setting. The institute also affords the NGO sector an opportunity to work in partnership with the Government in tackling many of the issues surrounding tobacco - marketing, supply and use."

The UN World Health Organisation today launched World No Tobacco Day by calling for a ban on smoking in public places while the EU Commission proposed a total ban on tobacco advertising.

"Such bans offer a comprehensive solution to keep the air clean and safe for all people, both smokers and non-smokers," said Ms Gro Harlem Brundtland, the WHO director general in Geneva.

The WHO director general also accused tobacco firms of doing anything they could to stop the public from taking the dangers of second-hand smoking seriously.

"They have paid for bogus scientific studies, unleashed well-funded campaigns to attack legitimate studies and done everything in their power to delay and defeat meaningful action on second-hand smoke," she said.

Additional reporting AFP