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Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health (SCOTH)

Welcome to the pages of the Department of Health's scientific committee (SCOTH) which advises the UK Chief Medical Officer on the health effects of smoking.

Terms of reference

The Committee is appointed to provide advice to the Chief Medical Officers of the United Kingdom on scientific matters concerning tobacco and health, in particular:
- to review scientific and medical evidence on such areas relating to tobacco and health, including behavioural aspects of tobacco use, as may be agreed between the Committee and the Health Departments of the United Kingdom and in the light of these reviews,
- to advise on research priorities on tobacco and health , including behavioural aspects of tobacco use;
- to report the advice of the Technical Advisory Group.

Contact

Scientific Secretary

Dr Rob Shayer
Health Improvement and Prevention
Room 708 Wellington House
135-155 Waterloo Road
London
SE1 8UG
Telephone 020 7972 4191

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 provide advice on control". It was considered additional technical expertise would be needed to carry out this work and a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) was therefore established.

Publications

In 2003 to 2004 SCOTH undertook an examination of the latest evidence on the health effects of secondhand smoke:
Their report was published on 16 November 2004.

Research

On the basis of advice from TAG the Department of Health has commissioned a number of research projects relating to chemical make up of tobacco smoke. Additionally an annual assessment is made of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide yields from brands of cigarettes on the UK market.

UK Benchmark Study

In 2001 the Department of Health initiated this study, to gather more detailed information on the constituents of cigarette smoke. The study determined the concentrations of 44 analytes in the smoke of 25 cigarette brands representative of the UK market. The study, undertaken by an independent contract laboratory, was funded by the UK-based member companies of the Tobacco Manufacturers Association (TMA).

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