Published August 7 2007 from Blackwell books: Oxford, a major new 155,000 word book on advocacy and tobacco control from the editor of Tobacco Control. Overview, contents and orders from publisher here or from Amazon

Special reduced price offer for Australian readers only: 34% discount price for limited stock -- normally $A82.95 now $A55.00 pick-up price from my office at University of Sydney (sc@med.usyd.edu.au) (plus $10 if postage required).

Reviews:

British Medical Journal October 2007

"He takes up some of the hottest issues in contemporary tobacco control worldwide and shows us their ethical, political, and policy complexities. Chapman's chapter on harm reduction and product regulation is one of the most nuanced pieces I've ever read on this contentious topic, which threatens to seriously divide the tobacco control movement.

Situating the issue within the history of industry product engineering, he reminds readers of the "lights" debacle, from which tobacco control advocates still have much to learn. The tobacco industry developed so called light cigarettes that delivered less tar and nicotine, as measured by machine. However, it was determined only much later (after millions of smokers switched to lights, thinking they would be safer) that lights were no safer at all, because people covered the specially engineered ventilation holes that allowed the lower levels measured by machine, and they "compensated" by smoking more and more deeply—facts that the industry knew all along. Given the recent interest by major multinational companies in acquiring manufacturers of smokeless tobacco products, Chapman argues for a strong regulatory regime. Under such a regime the amounts of specific, known harmful constituents in all tobacco products would be reduced and product distribution would be curtailed, but he warns that such tinkering should not divert tobacco control from its primary focus.

Chapman's book is serious scholarship, but don't mistake it for some spiritless tome that only academics will want to slog through. Anyone remotely interested in public health advocacy, ethics, and policy—not only related to tobacco—will find it a rewarding read. Chapman blends history, policy, ethics, and advocacy in a witty, engaging, and accessible way. Discussing Australia's laws on smoke-free areas, for example, he observes: "For a time in Australia, you could not smoke within two metres of a bar, this being deemed sensible to protect bar staff from harm. But at 2.01 metres, the idea was that they can breathe easy. There was the small problem that everyone forgot to tell the smoke it had to keep back. Anyone with an IQ a point higher than it takes to grunt understood that something was very wrong here."

Chapman sees informed advocacy as part and parcel of public health, and the second half of the book is an A to Z of advocacy, focusing on tobacco but packed with useful gems for advocates in any area of health and drawn from his own long experience with advocacy at many levels. Perhaps it's not quite the Sistine Chapel ceiling, but Chapman—who began his artistic career as an advocate defacing cigarette billboards with witty counter-phrases—knows how to think strategically about the best ways to move from symbolic gestures to genuine policy change. This book should stimulate many productive actions towards ending the holocaust."

Reviews: Canberra Times; Professor Mike Daube in Australian & New Zealand Journal of Public Health "The world of tobacco control owes him an inestimable debt"

See also pre-publication reviews below from Prof Ken Warner & Dr Jeff ("The Insider") Wigand and launch by former NSW Premier Bob Carr.

Advanced praise:

"Throughout his career, Simon Chapman has viewed the field of tobacco control from 30,000 feet with some of the most penetrating insights academicians have to offer. Yet he's also battled in the trenches, leading the troops in creative and intelligent assaults on a true Goliath of an enemy. A voracious consumer of everything Chapman authors, I was fascinated, educated, and occasionally entertained by this broad and deep "manual" of how to do tobacco control in the 21st century."

Kenneth E. Warner
Dean and Avedis Donabedian Distinguished University Professor
School of Public Health, University of Michigan

"A successful year for the tobacco industry is a disastrous year for global health. Each year millions of children are intentionally addicted to a product that ultimately kills when used as intended. This preventable toll on humanity exceeds more than 5 million people per year will continue to grow until the very industry that is responsible is held accountable, politically neutralized, effectively controlled with robust regulations and is forced to fully disclose its archaeology of obfuscation and fraud. Simon Chapman's analysis provides the road map of what needs to be done, how it needs to be done and that it needs to be done with a sense of urgency. It is a required reading for all those who want to make a difference in the lives of many, especially our children."

Jeffrey Wigand, MA, Ph.D., MAT, Sc.D. aka “The Insider”