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New scale ranks effectiveness of tobacco regulation

Respiratory Care Weekly, May 31, 2006

Are we making progress in wiping out smoking and its deleterious health effects? Researchers in the June Tobacco Control offer a new scale by which healthcare professionals can measure this goal. Developed by an international committee of tobacco experts, the scale takes into account 30 facets of a nation's policies toward pricing and advertising tobacco as well as workplace smoking bans, and-possible the most important to respiratory therapists-access to smoking-cessation programs.

In the article, the authors used the scale to rank 30 European countries, with a maximum score of 100. Four countries-Ireland, United Kingdom, Norway, and Iceland-scored 70 or more. Thirteen countries scored above 50, with 11 of them in the European Union. Ireland had the highest overall score, 74 out of 100, and Luxembourg was bottom with 26 points. The study in Tobacco Control did not say how the U.S. scored.

Click herehttp://tc.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/15/3/247 to view this journal article for free.

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