U.S. Tobacco Control Laws Database: Research Applications pdf

Tobacco Control Laws Database: Research Applications... History of the Database Collection started in early 1980’s  Database created in 1985  Database includes records back to 1914 

U.S Tobacco Control Laws

Database: Research Applications

History of the Database

 Collection started in early 1980’s

 Database created in 1985

 Database includes records back to 1914

 the earliest smoking control ordinance is a 1936

Milwaukee, WI law prohibiting smoking on buses, and the earliest Youth Access ordinance is a 1914 Houston,

MO law prohibiting sales to minors

What’s in the Database?

 Clean Indoor Air /Smokefree laws

 Local and State

 Youth Access

 Advertising

 Excise Taxes

 Conditional Use Permits (CUP’s)

 Database is a repository of close to 8500 laws in close to

4000 municipalities; all 50 states (for clean indoor air)

 323 fields in each record

Process of Collecting Laws

 Mail Solicitations

 ANR Foundation’s own

 Partnership mailings with others

 Monitoring news services

 Daily updates from Information Specialists

 Newsletters and websites

 Advocates, Colleagues, and Elected Officials

 Our Members

Analysis & Data Entry

Standardized system designed to ensure objectivity and consistency across all

records in the database

 Checked in to our system

 Analyzed by Policy Analyst

 Simultaneously analyzed by Associate Policy Analyst

 Discrepancies to Sr Policy Analyst for final decisions

 Data entered by Policy Analyst

 Data entry is checked by policy/administrative staff

 Laws are filed in hard files

Comprehensiveness of Collection

 98% rate of coverage among cities with a

population of 75,000 or more

 Smaller cities are a challenge, but we do

have laws in the database from cities with

populations as low as 30.

Earned Media

November 2, 2005

Population Protected

Peer Reviewed Publications

• 5 National Cancer Institute (NCI) Monographs

• 3 Surgeons General’s Reports

• Studies and journal articles, including Journal of the

American Medical Association, American Journal of

Public Health, Tobacco Control, National Bureau of

Economic Research, Annual Review of Public Health, Journal of Social Issues, and British Medical Journal on

economic impact, youth smoking prevalence, low birth weight, resale value of restaurants or cars, etc.

Sample of Research Articles

 "Workplace secondhand smoke exposure in the U.S trucking industry," Environmental

Health Perspectives 118(2): 216-221, February 2010

 “The Diffusion and Impact of Clean Indoor Air Laws,” Annu Rev Public Health, 2008.

 "Effect of smoking regulations in local restaurants on smokers’ anti-smoking attitudes

and quitting behaviours," Tobacco Control, April 2007.

 "Economic effect of a smoke-free law in a tobacco-growing community," Tobacco

Control, February 1, 2007.

 "Smoke-free laws and secondhand smoke exposure in US non-smoking adults, 1999–

2002," Tobacco Control, August 2006.

 "The role of research in international tobacco control," American Journal of Public

Health, June 2005.

 “Effect of restrictions on smoking at home, at school, and in public places on teenage

smoking: cross sectional study,” British Medical Journal, August 5, 2000.

Applications to Related Issues

 Tracking acute and chronic disease rates

 Pediatric clinics: asthma, ear infections,

bronchitis, etc.

 AMI admissions

 Cancer rates and trends over time

 Fewer “cancer clusters” as cities go smokefree?

Possible Model for Other Policy Tracking

 Are there other potential applications of this type of database?

 Exercise and nutrition policies

 Other areas?

 Opportunity to share lessons learned and

technical issues from our experience

For More Information

2530 San Pablo Avenue, Suite J Berkeley, CA 94702

510/841-3032

email: anr@no-smoke.org

www.no-smoke.org