Tobacco & Nicotine: Public Health, Science, Policy, and Law

This module provides an overview of the history and current state of the tobacco epidemic. You will learn about the health effects of both combustible and non-combustible tobacco and nicotine products, the causes of smoking, and key trends in cigarette and other tobacco/nicotine product use.

This module describes the strategies and tactics used by the tobacco industry that created and continue to perpetuate the smoking epidemic, and it also begins to explore the complexities of contemporary and potential future relationships between the public health community and the tobacco industry.

This module introduces the major aspects of tobacco control policy interventions and their effects on tobacco consumption and health historically, in addition to newer policy approaches. You will learn about non-governmental policy interventions, state and federal level policy, and global policy as they relate to tobacco control, and you will understand the importance of considering unintended consequences of policy interventions.

This module provides a look into the legal strategies pursued to address the tobacco industry's impact on U.S. public health, covering the period of the 1950s to 2020 and beyond. Lectures and interviews provide first hand accounts of this fascinating and ongoing pursuit.

This module explores the concept of harm reduction as it relates to tobacco control and encourages you to think critically about the controversies that have been raise in this ongoing debate. You will learn about alternative products and where they fall on the continuum of risk, issues of adult cessation and youth initiation, and some potential paths forward in terms of policy.

This module provides an overview of modeling and its role in tobacco policy and tobacco regulatory science with a focus on the U.S. federal policy context. Three examples of how modeling has been used in this field are covered: menthol cigarette bans, youth nicotine use, and forecasting future smoking prevalence.

This module describes the overall tobacco landscape, both in the U.S. and globally, and how tobacco control may look in the coming decades. Additionally, you will consider the "tobacco endgame" and complete a Peer Review assignment which allows you to choose an endgame strategy and analyze it. Finally, you will reflect on the issues within tobacco control that have been highlighted throughout this course.