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Background Weight concerns are widely documented as one of the major barriers for girls and young adult women to quit smoking. Therefore, it is important to investigate whether smokers who have weight concerns respond to tobacco control policies differently than smokers who do not in terms of quit attempts, and how this difference varies by gender and country. Objective This study aims to investigate, by gender and country, whether smokers who believe that smoking helps control weight are less responsive to tobacco control policies with regards to quit attempts than those who do not. Methods We use longitudinal data from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia to conduct the analysis. We first constructed a dichotomous indicator for smokers who have the weight control belief and then examined the disparity in policy responsiveness in terms of quit attempts by directly estimating the interaction terms of policies and the weight control belief indicator using generalised estimating equations. Findings We find that weight control belief significantly attenuates the policy impact of tobacco control measures on quit attempts among US female smokers and among UK smokers. This pattern was not found among smokers in Canada and Australia. Conclusions Although our results vary by gender and country, the findings suggest that weight concerns do alter policy responsiveness in quit attempts in certain populations. Policy makers should take this into account and alleviate weight concerns to enhance the effectiveness of existing tobacco control policies on promoting quitting smoking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To analyse the tobacco industry’s use of international trade agreements to oppose policies to strengthen health warning labels (HWLs). Design A review of tobacco industry documents, tobacco control legislation and international treaties. Results During the early 1990s, the tobacco industry became increasingly alarmed about the advancement of HWLs on cigarettes packages. In response, it requested legal opinions from British American Tobacco’s law firms in Australia and England, Britain’s Department of Trade and Industry and the World Intellectual Property Organisation on the legality of restricting and prohibiting the use of their trademarks, as embodied in cigarette packages. The consistent legal advice, privately submitted to the companies, was that international treaties do not shield trademark owners from government limitations (including prohibition) on the use of their trademarks. Despite receiving this legal advice, the companies publicly argued that requiring large HWLs compromised their trademark rights under international treaties. The companies successfully used these arguments as part of their successful effort to deter Canadian and Australian governments from enacting laws requiring the plan packaging of cigarettes, which helped delay large graphic HWLs, including ‘plain’ packaging, for over a decade. Conclusions Governments should not be intimidated by tobacco company threats and unsubstantiated claims, and carefully craft HWL laws to withstand the inevitable tobacco industry lawsuits with the knowledge that the companies’ own lawyers as well as authoritative bodies have told the companies that the rights they claim do not exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The official prescribing information document distributed with a prescription drug is a key source of safety information, but it may include excessive or insufficient details. Objectives To compare prescribing information approved by the US Food and Drug Administration with the UK, Canada and Australia to identify content differences in safety warnings. Methods For 20 top-selling prescription drugs, we used an automated natural language processing tool to calculate the number and severity of reported adverse drug reactions (ADRs). We fit hierarchical Poisson models and included fixed effects for other prescribing information characteristics. Separately, we analysed the appearance and content of 'black box' warnings. Results There was substantial variation in safety content of approved prescribing information. Canada had the highest median ADRs per drug (138 (IQR 86-234)) and the UK had the lowest (84 (IQR 51-111)). The number of ADRs reported was on average 50% higher in Canada compared with the USA (ratio of ADRs/ document: 1.5, 95% CI 1.4 to 1.6, p<0.001). By contrast, there were on average 15% fewer ADRs listed in the UK compared with the USA (ratio of ADRs/document 0.85 (95% CI 0.78 to 0.93, p<0.001), and 21% fewer ADRs listed in Australia compared with the USS (ratio of ADRs/ document 0.79, 95% CI 0.74 to 0.85, p<0.001). There were no variations in ADR severity. The presence and qualitative content of boxed warnings also showed substantial diversity. Conclusions International variations exist in the presentation of safety data in drug prescribing information, which may have important implications for patient safety. Better international coordination is necessary to enhance use of this information for patient decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a survey on smokers that assessed if the relationship between beliefs and smoking behaviors was in consistent with Cognitive Dissonance Theory. It included adult smokers from Canada, U.S., Great Britain and Australia. The findings revealed that smokers with no intetion of quitting across the three waves, were inclined towards the highest levels of rationalizations for smoking. It suggests studies to determine if the change in beliefs has any effect on intentions to quit.