A Call to Action: Successful Tobacco Control for the Future

Conference Speakers

Ms Norma Cronin

Health Promotion Manager, Tobacco Control – Irish Cancer Society

Norma Cronin qualified as a general nurse in Ireland and holds a Higher Diploma in Public Health. For the past fifteen years she has worked in the field of cancer prevention and health promotion at the Irish Cancer Society. In her current position as Health Promotion Manager, Tobacco Control, she has overall responsibility for tobacco control initiatives for the Society. In collaboration with the relevant agencies, she played a major role in ensuring the effective implementation of Ireland's Smoke Free at Work legislation; and has presented nationally and internationally on this groundbreaking initiative. She has presented as a plenary speaker at the 2004 UICC World Conference For Cancer Organisations, the 2005 3rd Australian Tobacco Control Conference and at the 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health (WCTOH) 2006.

Norma established and manages Ireland's National Smokers' Quitline which is an initiative of the Irish Cancer Society in partnership with the Health Service Executive. Norma serves on a number of national and international committees and is a Steering Group Member of the European Network of Quitlines (ENQ), and an Advisory Board Member of the International Network of Women and Tobacco (INWAT). She is also a Board Member of ASH Ireland.

Speakers abstract - Tobacco Control in Ireland – Future Challenges

On March 29th 2004 Ireland became a world leader in tobacco control, when it became the first country to implement comprehensive Smoke Free at Work legislation in all enclosed workplaces, including bars and restaurants. This legislation has proved very successful, with compliance at 95% and widespread public support. More recently, legislation has been passed to ban all in-store point of sale advertising of tobacco products.

However, the war against tobacco is certainly not won. 6,000 people die every year in Ireland due to tobacco related diseases and lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Ireland.

The overall prevalence of cigarette smoking is currently 24.4%. Smoking prevalence among 15-18 year olds appears to be increasing and is currently 21%. More than one third of young adults 19 – 35 year olds smoke.

In order to reduce smoking prevalence rates and reduce the numbers of young people starting to smoke in the coming years, a number of factors need to be addressed. Among these are the social and cultural environment, the power and influence of the tobacco industry which plays a significant role in normalising and glamorising tobacco. Many challenges will be faced in addressing prevalence rates among young people and lower socio-economic groups. Concerted and innovative efforts will need to be made to address the issue with these groups. Smoking rates among lower socio-economic groups are significantly higher than that of the general population, which is a contributing factor to the gap in mortality and morbidity between the two groups.

The presentation will discuss our current and future strategies, which our tobacco control advocates engage in, in order to reduce our prevalence rates. These strategies include, prevention, cessation and community-based interventions. The importance of advocating for higher taxes on tobacco will be emphasised and the need for progressive tobacco control legislation.