TCORS: Center for the Assessment of Tobacco Regulations (CAsToR)

News

In the news: “A Quarter of Smokers Quit Under Menthol Bans, Study Finds” in the New York Times, with comments from CAsToR Principal Investigator David Levy, PhD
David Levy, PhD
David Levy, PhD
TAGS: #MentholBan
POSTED: Mon Feb 26, 2024
In a study in 2021 that used a model to assess the effects of a menthol ban, David Levy, a Georgetown University oncology professor, found that it could lead to an overall reduction in smoking of about 15 percent. By 2060, the study projected, as many as 11 million years of life could be gained rather than lost to smoking-related deaths.
“These effects are delayed,” Dr. Levy said, “but nevertheless important.”
 
Read the full story at NYTimes.com
In the news: “A quarter of smokers quit within a year or two of menthol bans” on CNN, with comments from CAsToR Principal Investigator Rafael Meza, PhD
Rafael Meza, PhD
Rafael Meza, PhD
TAGS: #MentholBan
POSTED: Wed Feb 21, 2024
“It adds to the already very compelling evidence that banning menthol would result in fewer people smoking cigarettes and provide higher public health benefits, especially for populations that have pretty high rates of use, particularly Black Americans. There’s just more and more evidence every day that it would be a good idea to do a ban.” — Rafael Meza, PhD
 
Read the full story at CNN.com
CAsToR e-Announcements (February 2024)
TAGS: #Newsletter
POSTED: Mon Feb 12, 2024
A bi-monthly e-newsletter of CAsToR highlights, events and more. Headlines: CAsToR Junior Investigator Sarah Skolnick, MPH discusses computational modeling; Dual and poly tobacco use publication and modeling tool released  
Read the CAsToR e-Announcements (February 2024)
CAsToR e-Announcements (December 2023)
TAGS: #Newsletter
POSTED: Fri Dec 08, 2023
A bi-monthly e-newsletter of CAsToR highlights, events and more. Headlines: CAsToR funded for five more years; CAsToR is pleased to announce the launch of a Massive Open Online Course, “Tobacco & Nicotine: Public Health, Science, Policy and Law”  
Read the CAsToR e-Announcements (December 2023)
In the news: “Most Americans Are Quitting Smoking—Except For Those Over 65” in Time Magazine, with comments from CAsToR Principal Investigator Rafael Meza, PhD
Rafael Meza, PhD
Rafael Meza, PhD
TAGS: #MentholBan
POSTED: Thu Dec 07, 2023
Public health campaigns and programs outlining the dangers of smoking aren’t really aimed at older adults, says Rafael Meza, an integrative oncologist at the BC Cancer Research Institute in Vancouver and the lead author of a new study on adult smoking. “In the U.S., smoking really has a generational pattern,” he says.
Meza’s new analysis, published Dec. 1 in JAMA Health Forum, shows that while people ages 40 through 64 smoke the most, Americans 65 and above are picking up the habit in a way nobody else is. While the prevalence of regular smokers dropped to 15.2% down from 21.2% in a little over a decade for that middle-aged group, older adults saw an increase from 8.7% to 9.4% in the same time frame.
 
Read the full story at Time.com
University of Michigan-led Tobacco Regulations Center Receives $20 Million for Tobacco Use Research
A closeup image of a person holding a cigarette up to their mouth with a lit lighter.
POSTED: Wed Nov 01, 2023
“We are thrilled to continue CAsToR’s work assessing the impact of tobacco use and regulations, as well as continuing our efforts to train a new generation of tobacco regulatory scientists and modelers. To date, our center has made important contributions to the development of US tobacco regulations—such as the forthcoming cigarette menthol ban—and we look forward to continuing our work to further reduce tobacco-related morbidity and mortality.”
Read the full story at Michigan Public Health News Center
Funding Awards Announced for Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science
CAsToR Principal Investigators, left to right: David Mendez, PhD, University of Michigan • Rafael Meza, PhD, British Columbia Cancer Research Institute • David Levy, PhD, Georgetown University Medical Center
CAsToR Principal Investigators, left to right: David Mendez, PhD, University of Michigan • Rafael Meza, PhD, British Columbia Cancer Research Institute • David Levy, PhD, Georgetown University Medical Center
POSTED: Thu Sep 28, 2023
The University of Michigan, Georgetown University, and the BC Cancer Research Institute’s Center for the Assessment of Tobacco Regulations (CAsToR) is one of the 7 centers funded as part of TCORS 3.0. The CAsToR award totalling $20 million dollars will provide an additional 5 years of funding to support the Center’s work studying the impact of tobacco regulations on tobacco use patterns and downstream health effects. Congratulations to all CAsToR investigators.  
More at the Center for Tobacco Products Newsroom
CAsToR e-Announcements (June 2023)
TAGS: #Newsletter
POSTED: Thu Jun 29, 2023
A bi-monthly e-newsletter of CAsToR highlights, events and more. Headlines: It is with great excitement we announce the addition of Dr. David Mendez as co-Principal Investigator to CAsToR; Video: CAsToR Webinar: “Building a COPD Natural History Simulation Model for Tobacco Regulation Evaluation” with Luz Sanchez Romero, MD, MSc, PhD Junior Investigators recently published article discusses the use of Machine Learning techniques to automatically uncover informative predictors of smoking onset among adults.  
Read the CAsToR e-Announcements (June 2023)
CAsToR e-Announcements (March 2023)
TAGS: #Newsletter
POSTED: Fri Mar 31, 2023
A bi-monthly e-newsletter of CAsToR highlights, events and more. Headlines: You’re invited! CAsToR Virtual Symposium; Announcement: New version of WMSM software released; Featured Junior Investigator Chris Cadham, MPH; Dr. Delvon Mattingly successfully defended his dissertation on February 25, 2023; CAsToR is pleased to announce the availability of scholarships for a short course on tobacco simulation modeling (EPID 730).  
Read the CAsToR e-Announcements (March 2023)