Reducing tobacco-related cancer incidence and mortality: summary of an institute of medicine workshop.

Tobacco use remains a serious and persistent national problem. Recognizing that progress in combating cancer will never be fully achieved without addressing the tobacco problem, the National Cancer Policy Forum of the Institute of Medicine convened a public workshop exploring current issues in tobacco control, tobacco cessation, and implications for cancer patients. Workshop participants discussed potential policy, outreach, and treatment strategies to reduce tobacco-related cancer incidence and mortality, and highlighted a number of potential high-value action items to improve tobacco control policy, research, and advocacy.

The FCTC's evidence-based policies remain a key to ending the tobacco epidemic.

With the dramatic reduction in tobacco use in developed nations, a growing number of public health leaders have called for what they describe as an 'endgame' strategy and the need for new policies to achieve that goal. In moving forward, it is important not to lose sight of the policies that have been the underpinnings of successful tobacco reduction efforts to date, nor should we allow any discussion of new strategies to decrease the emphasis on fully implementing the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Any 'endgame' strategy should carefully build on the evidence-based strategies that have proven so effective and not be based on the false premise that the policies embraced by the FCTC are incapable of reducing tobacco use far below current levels or to a level where tobacco caused disease is no longer a major public health problem.