Assess the effects of tobacco control programs or public policy changes on smoking behavior.

Tobacco smoking is one of the largest preventable causes of death and disease in Australia. It is associated with an increased risk of a wide range of serious health conditions and is responsible for around 15,000 deaths each year. Although smoking rates have decreased over the past 15 years, 2.6 million adult Australians still smoke daily. Why do so many people persist with such an addictive and deadly habit; what are the ways in which they can quit smoking? The increasing uptake of e-cigarettes is seen by some to help people quit smoking and reduce harm, and by others (including the government) to be an inducement to take up and normalise smoking, particularly by young people. How safe is 'vaping' and what are the arguments for and against e-cigarettes? Australia is a world leader in tobacco control, having introduced initiatives such as the banning of advertising, imposing a tobacco excise, and mandating smoke-free environments and plain packaging. Is the fight against Big Tobacco being won? Despite these interventions, why do so many Australians continue to let their health go up in smoke?

Identifies upward trend in cigar use as potential serious public health problem.

This volume presents results from three large, more contemporary prospective mortality studies and provides longer followup for two of the older studies dating from the 1950's. When observations from the more contemporary studies are compared with those from the 1950's, one important but disturbing conclusion is apparent - mortality risks among continuing smokers, both males and females, have increased. In fact, relative risks for smokers compared to never-smokers have increased for all major smoking-related diseases - coronary heart disease (CHD), lung cancer, other smoking-related cancers, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This increase over time in the relative risks for smokers compared to never-smokers has occured despite a dramatic decline in cardiovascular disease (CVD) death rates in the U.S. population, suggesting that the decline in CVD death rates has been proportionately greater among never-smokers than among continuing smokers. The clearest message that is drawn from the enormous quantity of data presented in this monograph is that smoking prevention and cessation efforts are complementary, not alternative, solutions to the current epidemic of diseases caused by smoking.