A Canadian team has received US$275 000 from the US National Cancer Institute to support its research into whether dramatic warning labels on cigarette packaging are having an impact on high school students. Geoffrey Fong, a psychology professor at the University of Waterloo, heads the Health Behaviour Research Group that will survey 12 000 students at 9 Canadian and 6 American schools. He says the grant “is an indication of the potential international significance of our work. Labelling is one of the most important tobacco-control policies throughout the world, and our research has the potential to be useful to policy-makers in other countries. Canada is seen as a real leader.”
The Canadian labels, introduced in December 2000, include graphic pictures of diseased lungs and mouths, as well as various warnings about the adverse health effects of tobacco. The research team will explore a range of questions. Do students think about the consequences of smoking more because of the new labels? Are the labels effective?
Preliminary findings will be presented at the US National Conference on Tobacco or Health in San Francisco in November and at the Canadian Conference on Tobacco or Health in Ottawa in December. — Ken Kilpatrick, Hamilton, Ont.