This report describes tobacco control policies in the WHO European Region as of late 2006. It reviews progress following the adoption of the European Strategy for Tobacco Control (ESTC) in 2002 and establishes a baseline for monitoring implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in the Region. It presents an overview of the situation regarding tobacco use and related harm in the WHO European Region during the period 2002-06 and the policy responses of Member States. The report also examines the status of these policies in the light of the requirements of the WHO FCTC. Several short national, regional and subregional case studies illustrate the lessons learned and challenges faced during the policy-making process.

Research in the past five years suggests a bleak picture of the health dangers of smoking, with tobacco the biggest single killer of all forms of pollution. It is estimated that one person dies every ten seconds due to smoking-related diseases. This publication considers the history and current position regarding tobacco use, as well as providing some predictions for the future of the tobacco epidemic upto the year 2050. It contains a number of full-colour world maps and graphics to illustrate the variations between countries and regions. Issues discussed include: tobacco prevalence and consumption; youth smoking; the economics of tobacco farming and manufacturing; smuggling; the tobacco industry, promotion, profits and trade; smokers' rights; legislative action such as smoke-free areas, tobacco advertising bans and health warnings.

The report "Monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies" tracks the status of the tobacco epidemic and interventions to combat it. The report finds that more countries have implemented tobacco control policies, ranging from graphic pack warnings and advertising bans to no smoking areas. About 4.7 billion people - 63% of the world's population - are covered by at least one comprehensive tobacco control measure, which has quadrupled since 2007 when only 1 billion people and 15% of the world's population were covered.

This report considers the biological and behavioral mechanisms that may underlie the pathogenicity of tobacco smoke. Many Surgeon General's reports have considered research findings on mechanisms in assessing the biological plausibility of associations observed in epidemiologic studies. Mechanisms of disease are important because they may provide plausibility, which is one of the guideline criteria for assessing evidence on causation. This report specifically reviews the evidence on the potential mechanisms by which smoking causes diseases and considers whether a mechanism is likely to be operative in the production of human disease by tobacco smoke. This evidence is relevant to understanding how smoking causes disease, to identifying those who may be particularly susceptible, and to assessing the potential risks of tobacco products.

This book contains the guidelines adopted by the Conference of the Parties. These seven guidelines cover a wide range of provisions of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, such as: the protection of public health policies with respect to tobacco control from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry; protection from exposure to tobacco smoke; packaging and labelling of tobacco products; and tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; and demand reduction measures concerning tobacco dependence and cessation. These guidelines are intended to help Parties to meet their obligations under the respective provisions of the Convention. They reflect the consolidated views of Parties on different aspects of implementation, their experiences and achievements, and the challenges faced. The guidelines also aim to reflect and promote best practices and standards that governments would benefit from in the treaty-implementation process.

The "Handbook" covers how the effects of a tobacco control policy are determined, the core constructs for understanding how and why a given policy works, the potential moderator variables to consider when evaluating a given policy and the data sources that might be useful for evaluation. The "Handbook" includes logic models outlining relevant constructs for evaluating the effectiveness of policies on tobacco taxation, smoke-free environments, tobacco product regulations, limits on tobacco marketing communications, product labeling, anti-tobacco public communication campaigns and tobacco use cessation interventions.

This is the 11th IARC Handbook of Cancer Prevention, and the first in a series focusing on tobacco control. It reviews the scientific literature and evaluates the evidence on changes in the risk of cancer, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm, peripheral artery disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease observed following smoking cessation. It considers whether the risk of dying from or of developing these diseases decreases after smoking cessation, the time course of the change in risk and whether the risk returns to that of never-smokers? The review and evaluation presented in the Handbook goes on to identify relevant public health and research recommendations.