Other Announcements

General

Registration is open for TTAC's Web-based courses
The Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium is offering two upcoming distance learning courses for public health practitioners. The 6-week Logic Model Essentials web-based course provides an understanding of the purpose and features of a logic model, the skills and tools needed to build a logic model, and knowledge of the important ways to apply logic model results. The next session of Logic Model Essentials will be held from January 10, 2011 through February 18, 2011. The 12-week Fundamentals of Evaluation web-based course guides participants through the evaluation process – from planning to reporting results – while giving them the opportunity to develop their own evaluation plan. The next Fundamentals of Evaluation course will be offered from February 28, 2011 - May 20, 2011. Both courses offer an engaging learning experience with visual aids, group discussion, self-assessments, and individual learning activities. Click here to register. Registration for Logic Model Essentials will close on December 30, 2010. The registration deadline for Fundamentals of Evaluation is February 18, 2011.

ASTHO position statement on tobacco prevention and control
The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) has released its new Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Position Statement. The position statement describes the organization’s support for state-level efforts to reduce tobacco use, health disparities, and tobacco-related morbidity and mortality, and provides a series of recommendations to further these efforts. The recommendations will help state public health agencies create comprehensive and sustainable tobacco control programs that combine social, economic, regulatory, clinical, and educational strategies complementing the MPOWER framework suggested by the World Health Organization and used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Comprehensive tobacco control programs have been shown to reduce rates of smoking, tobacco-related deaths, and diseases caused by smoking. Click here to access ASTHO’s position statement.

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FDA Announcements

FDA publishes results of experimental study of graphic cigarette labels
The FDA has made available the results of its study on the effects of the 36 graphic cigarette warning labels that the agency recently proposed. Youth aged 13-17 and adults aged 18 and older were divided into an experimental group, which saw text warnings paired with images, and a control group, which saw text warnings only. The results showed that while the graphic images were generally associated with higher emotional responses than the text-only warnings, few of them influenced participants’ beliefs about smoking and the associated risks, and some even made participants less likely to believe smoking was harmful. Some images were more effective than others in eliciting reactions, and responses to the images varied by age. The authors suggest that repeated exposure to the images over a longer period of time might cause a greater impact. Because of the mixed results, they also note that a “one-size-fits all” approach may not be optimal, and no recommendations are made for the use of particular images. Click here to read more, or click here to download the full FDA report. Related: FDA seeking public comments on proposed cigarette product warning labels As part of its new proposed rule, Required Warnings for Cigarette Packages and Advertisements, the FDA will require nine new textual warning statements accompanied by color graphics to be placed on 50% of the front and back panels of each cigarette package. The FDA is seeking public comments from the public on the proposed rule, as well as opinions on 36 different proposed graphics, through January 11, 2011. Final regulations will be issued by June 22, 2011, and implementation will occur fifteen months later. Click here to read more about the proposed rule, to view the proposed health warnings and images, and to learn how to submit comments to the FDA.

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