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Background to the setting up of SCOTH The previous Government advisory group on tobacco issues was the Independent Scientific Committee on Smoking and Health (ISCSH) initially formed to examine modifications to the smoking process and tobacco products. It met first in 1973 under the chairmanship of Dr Robert Hunter (the late Lord Hunter of Newington) and in 1975 produced its first report' which set out guidelines for the testing of tobacco substitutes and for the testing and use of additives in tobacco products. The Product Modification Programme subsequently failed because the product was unacceptable to smokers. The second phase of the ISCSH work involved the assessment of "lower risk" cigarettes which manufacturers were developing through product modification, primarily tar reduction. A second report2 was published in 1979, including a first list of permitted tobacco additives. In 1980 Dr Peter Froggatt (later Sir Peter Froggatt) became the new chairman of the committee and the terms of reference were widened to advise industry as well as Government on the development of lower risk tobacco products. The ISCSH continued until 1991 during which time the third3 and fourth4 reports were published. These reports included further evaluation of the Product Modification Programme, assessments of the risks from environmental tobacco smoke and from active and passive smoking during pregnancy, The Fourth Report also included an updated list of permitted additives. When the terms of appointment of the ISCSH members expired at the end of 1991, the opportunity was taken to restructure the membership and range of activities. Most of the recommendations set out in the Fourth Report had been followed up. In particular, new regulations had been introduced under EC Directives to limit the tar yields of cigarettes, and much attention had been given to publicising risks of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and promoting smoke-free policies in public and work places. In addition to the ISCSH there had been for some years a Department of Health Committee for Research in Behavioural Aspects of Smoking and Health (CRIBASH). Its terms of reference were set out so as to complement and not overlap those of the ISCSH and a major part of its remit was to promote and assess major surveys of the prevalence, distribution and attitudes to smoking carried out by the Office for Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) and other organisations. There were also links with the education and smoking cessation work carried out by the Health Education Authority (HEA). It was considered that there would be advantages in subsuming these behavioural aspects of tobacco use into a restructured committee. The Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health It is important that the development of policy continues to be based on a comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the scientific evidence. In order to ensure that this takes place it was agreed to set up a new committee under the chairmanship of Professor David Poswillo, comprising experts from a range of medical, scientific and behavioural disciplines concerned with the health effects of smoking, to be known as the Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health (SCOTH). It was anticipated also that SCOTH would provide advice on carrying through objectives on tobacco use as set out in the Health of the Nation White Paper5 and followed up in the Department of Health's publication Smoke Free for Health6. It was agreed that the new committee should be set up in line with other Expert Advisory Committees providing advice to Ministers through the Chief Medical Officer. SCOTH's first report7 was published in March 1998 and addressed a number of topics including active smoking, passive smoking, nicotine addiction, price and advertising and smoking cessation. Soon afterwards four tobacco companies sought permission for judicial review. They complained that they had not been consulted before damaging statements were made about their commercial morality (that they advertised to recruit new young smokers), and that SCOTH had gone beyond its remit in the areas it had chosen to investigate. The outcome of the case was published on 21 December 1999 when Mr Justice Hidden ordered that the application be dismissed and that leave to appeal be refused. However, during the time taken for this case to come to court there was a delay in re-appointing members and the period of three years during which SCOTH remained dormant. Following the outcome of the Judicial Review, and recommendations for scientific support to the Department of Health made in the Health Select Committee Second Report on the Tobacco Industry and Health Risks of Smoking8, the SCOTH was reconstituted in September 2000 under the chairmanship of Professor James Friend. The first meeting of the reconstituted SCOTH was held on 30 October 2000. The Technical Advisory Group One of the commitments in the Health of the Nation White Paper and taken up in SCOTH's terms of reference was "to review existing controls on additives and the emission of toxic substances from cigarettes and to provide advice on controls". It was considered additional technical expertise would be needed to carry out this work and a technical advisory group was therefore established. A list of the additives, which can be used in UK cigarette manufacture, can be found at http://www.givingupsmoking.co.uk/ina_cig.htm
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