Menthol facilitates inhalation of tobacco smoke, even when you can’t taste it!
Even when menthol cannot be tasted, the substance makes it easier to inhale tobacco smoke. This way, menthol makes smoking more attractive for young and novice smokers who are not yet used to inhaling sharp, pungent tobacco smoke. There is strong evidence for this effect in independent literature, but not in the reports submitted by tobacco manufacturers. This is one of the key outcomes of Work Package 9 of the Joint Action on Tobacco Control. Since May 2020, tobacco products containing a characterizing menthol flavor are prohibited in the EU. However, menthol may still be added in low amounts, which do not lead to a characteristic flavor. According to the European Tobacco Products Directive, manufacturers of tobacco products are required to disclose to the Member States which additives they use in tobacco products. The manufacturers also had to provide additional information about, among other things, the harmful and addictive effects
Representation of the JATC project at the ECToH 2020
Information on the JATC project was shared among tobacco control and public health experts that participated at the 8th European Conference on Tobacco or Health (ECToH) held in Berlin, from 19 to 22 February 2020. Representatives of the JATC Consortium provided detailed information and answered visitor's questions on the JATC outputs and their importance for tobacco control in Europe.
2nd JATC Interim Meeting, Brussels
The 2nd JATC Interim Meeting took place on February 4-5, 2020 in Brussels, joined by the members of the Ingredients Subgroup of the Expert Group in Tobacco Control. More than 70 European partners participating in the EU funded project, Joint Action on Tobacco Control, met for the third time after the project’s kick-off, in October 2017. This was one of the key annual events of the project, during which all partners had the opportunity to discuss the JATC progress so far and give their valuable input on the reports presented by Work Package leaders. Among other, partners discussed about the EU-CEG platform’s data quality and improvement options on data sharing. Partners agreed that outcome originated from the JATC, will be of great importance for further tobacco control actions and for the enhancement of European and International public health, in general. All JATC participants declared fully committed to contribute to the
The TackSHS project Final Conference
The TackSHS project, an EU funded project tackling tobacco-related chronic diseases in Europe, was recently completed with a Project Final Conference that took place in the European Parliament, in Brussels. The TackSHS was led and managed by Dr. Esteve Fernández, Director of the Tobacco Control Unit in the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO, Spain). It is worth-noting that Dr. Esteve Fernández and ICO is a JATC participant, as the leader of WP6. Novel data that reveals the results of exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) from cigarettes and second-hand aerosols (SHA) from electronic cigarettes on the respiratory health of European population, the burden of associated mortality and morbidity and economic consequences for national and European welfare were presented for discussion to a wide audience of about 100 European stakeholders during the Conference, held on October 8th, 2019. Researchers from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Spain and Greece had an honor of sharing key
The JATC at the EU Health Programme Conference
The EU Health Programme High Level Conference took place in Brussels (30 September 2019), organized by the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (CHAFEA), with the support of the European Commission Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG Sante). More than 350 participants, featuring policy-makers, researchers, health professionals, public health institutes and other stakeholders, had the opportunity to discuss and analyze in-depth additional actions during specific sessions, around each one of the four objectives of the 3rd Health Programme. Key note speaker of the opening session was Mr. Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety. After having received a kind invitation by the organizers, the Joint Action on Tobacco Control was represented by the JATC Coordination team. The JATC, as part of the EU Health Programme, was presented with an oral presentation during the session entitled “Promote health, prevent diseases and foster supportive environments for healthy lifestyles”,
World No Tobacco Day 2019 – George D. Behrakis Research Lab, HCS
On the occasion of the World No Tobacco Day 2019, the JATC Coordination Team, via the George D. Behrakis Research Lab of the Hellenic Cancer Society (HCS), has released the following announcement. World No Tobacco Day 2019 - Tobacco and Lung Health Smoking, a classified disease, is the greatest epidemic of all time. Although smoking affects the whole body, the respiratory system is the point of entry and main target for the harmful effects of the noxious toxic substances inhaled through various tobacco products. Some of the main known tobacco-induced respiratory diseases include trachea, bronchus, lung cancers and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Smoking is also known to exacerbate asthma and is a risk factor for respiratory infections. In addition to active smoking, passive exposure to tobacco smoke is another major public health concern, having been scientifically proven to cause adverse health effects since 1981. Passive smoking causes 800,000 deaths of
JATC Participants met in Brussels for the 1st JATC Interim Meeting
The Interim Meeting of the Joint Action on Tobacco Control (JATC) took place on February 6-7, 2019 in Brussels, with the presence of members of the Subgroup on Ingredients and Composition of Tobacco and Related Products. More than 60 JATC participants from all over Europe had the chance to meet in person in the DG SANTE headquarters and discuss thoroughly about the progress and plan future actions of the project. Mrs Thea Emmerling, Head of the Cross-border Healthcare and Tobacco Control Unit and other officers of the DG SANTE and CHAFEA honored the meeting with their attendance, reflecting the importance of the project. The objectives of the meeting were defined as follows: To provide an update on the tasks performed, the milestones and key deliverables in the presence of regulators from the Member States; To update on the upcoming work and to plan the actions of the next 12 months; To facilitate
Referring to the JATC in a written response to the Parliament
The European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Mr Vytenis Andriukaitis refers to the JATC in his written response to the Parliamentary question on e-cigarettes, on behalf of the European Commission. See more at the link below
Review: Call for an External Subcontractor_WP2 Dissemination
The Joint Action on Tobacco Control is calling for an official European/International entity to support actions aimed at dissemination of JATC outcome, project related news and results to European stakeholders