Grant: Operating Grant: Population Health Intervention Research

A new rapidly unfolding tobacco strategy is underway in Ontario, building upon the success of the two previous provincial tobacco strategies. The Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion, through the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, assembled a Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) in 2009 to synthesize the evidence and make recommendations for a renewed tobacco strategy to improve the health of the population. The SAC delivered its report in April, 2010. The Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion is now developing a comprehensive tobacco control strategy expected to begin its rollout in 2011. The SAC report recommended that the new tobacco strategy address the problem of widespread availability of tobacco products in the retail environment. However, the committee recognized that additional research is required to determine the best way to implement this intervention. The proposed research addresses this need by systematically and in a timely manner analyzing and evaluating options for reducing the number of tobacco retail outlets. A series of policy option papers will examine the advantages, expected impacts and possible unintended consequences of three interventions for reducing the number of tobacco retail outlets (licensing system, zoning law, and designated tobacco retail outlets). These policy papers will feed into the deliberations of an Expert Panel which will produce evidence-informed recommendations for how the Ontario government should reduce tobacco retail outlets. We will also design a system that can measure and locate the number of tobacco retailers, allowing for the evaluation of future interventions to reduce the number of these retailers. The need for this research is most immediate in Ontario, but it will also be highly relevant to jurisdictions across the country, which also recognize the importance of reducing the physical availability of tobacco products.