July 10th, 2008
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LONDON
By Rebecca Oppenheim
Doctors are launching a new website tomorrow (28/02/03) dedicated to providing reliable facts about tobacco and its health risks.
Tobacco Factfile (www.tobaccofactfile.org) has been devised by the British Medical Association’s (BMA’s) Tobacco Control Resource Centre. The site is a one-stop information source about tobacco and has been designed for use by health professionals, educationalists, the public and the media.
The launch coincides with the deadline for the first international treaty for public health, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which will commit governments worldwide to take action to halt tobacco-related illness and death.
All the information has been peer-reviewed by Tobacco Factfile’s editorial board. As well as accessing key data, users can sign up to receive a randomly selected fact every week or month. The database is also available in Spanish, German and French.
Dr Vivienne Nathanson, BMA head of science and ethics, said, “In a world where misinformation and myth are common, Tobacco Factfile presents the hard truth about the global tobacco epidemic. It can be difficult to get hold of reliable information on the true impact of smoking, especially when powerful commercial interests are at play.”
Welcoming the project, Professor Sir Richard Doll, whose pioneering research first demonstrated the link between smoking and lung cancer, said, “Effective tobacco control policies must be firmly rooted in the evidence. Tobacco Factfile presents reliable information on the true consequences of tobacco use.”
© HMG Worldwide 2003
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