Professor of Health Management and Policy
Tobacco & Nicotine: Public Health, Science, Policy, and Law
What You'll Learn
- Understand the history of smoking and other tobacco/nicotine use; individual and public health impact; and tobacco use trends in key populations
- Learn how smoking came to be and remains the leading preventable cause of death despite one of the most successful public health efforts in history
- Explore the complex history of legal and regulatory challenges in a rapidly changing market, and how they continue to shape the landscape today
7 Modules
21 Hours
3 hrs per module (approx.)
Rating
About Tobacco & Nicotine: Public Health, Science, Policy, and Law
This course provides a strong foundation in the history of smoking and other tobacco and nicotine use; the individual and public health impact; tobacco use prevalence trends in adults, youth and key subpopulations; and how cigarette smoking came to be, and remains to this day, the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. and globally, despite the fact that tobacco control efforts have collectively constituted one of the most successful public health endeavors in our history.
The course also explores the role of the tobacco industry in the epidemic, as well as the pursuit of accountability and industry behavior change through legal action; the rapidly evolving tobacco and nicotine product marketplace; the unique and ever-changing regulatory and other policy challenges that have emerged; and the implications of this rapid change for public health today and in the future.
The course features 18 experts in a range of tobacco control areas and issues. Through a series of lectures, interviews, readings, and assessments, the course tells the story of smoking and tobacco and nicotine product use, focusing on the specific - but not unique - story of the U.S., while also presenting important information and insights from elsewhere in the world.
The content of this course is solely the responsibility of the authors and contributors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH or the Food and Drug Administration.
Cliff Douglas, the former lead instructor for this course, was, throughout the entire period of the development of the course and at the time of its launch (May 2023), the Director of the University of Michigan Tobacco Research Network (UMTRN), as well as a Co-investigator with the Center for the Assessment of Tobacco Regulations (CAsToR) at the University of Michigan, Georgetown University, and the British Columbia Cancer Research Institute.
As of October 2023, he released his affiliations with UMTRN and CAsToR and became the President and Chief Executive Officer of Global Action to End Smoking. The content of this course was not affected by his new role, nor will Mr. Douglas receive any revenue from this course at any point.
Skills You'll Gain
- Population Health
- Public Health
- Social Policy
What You'll Earn
- Certificate of Completion:
- Certificates of completion acknowledge knowledge acquired upon completion of a non-credit course or program.
Welcome Message
Welcome to Tobacco & Nicotine: Public Health, Science, Policy, and Law, a comprehensive course examining tobacco use through historical, scientific, legal, and policy perspectives. Learners explore public health impacts, industry behavior, regulatory challenges, and emerging nicotine products shaping global health today.
This abbreviated syllabus description was created with the help of AI tools and reviewed by staff. The full syllabus is available to those who enroll in the course.
Course Schedule
Modules 1: Tobacco, Nicotine, and Health: The Current Landscape in the U.S.
- Reading: Meet your Lead Instructor
- Reading: Expert Course Contributors
- Reading: Course Syllabus
- Reading: Course Acknowledgments
- Reading: Pre-Course Survey
- Discussion Prompt: Introduce yourself!
- Video: Introduction to Tobacco and Health
- Reading: Health Consequences of Smoking, Surgeon General Fact Sheet
- Reading: Module 1, Lesson 1: Optional Readings and Resources
- Video: Combustible Tobacco Use
- Video: Introduction to Non-Combustible Products with Ken Warner
- Video: Continuum of Risk and Harm with Mitch Zeller
- Reading: The Evolving Cigarette
- Video: Causes of Smoking and Overall Trends with Ken Warner
- Video: Behavioral Health & Tobacco Use Trends with Chad Morris
- Video: Trends in Adolescent Tobacco Use with Richard Miech
- Discussion Prompt: The Contempory Population of Smokers
- Reading: Module 1, Lesson 3: Optional Readings and Resources
- Video: Module 1 Wrap-up
- Reading: Module 1: Optional Readings, Resources and Slides
Module 2: Tobacco Industry: Vector of the Smoking Epidemic
- Video: Introduction to Module 2
- Video: Origins of the Cigarette Catastrophe with Robert Proctor
- Video: Deception, Corruption, and What is to be Done? with Robert Proctor
- Reading: Support for policies to prohibit the sale of menthol cigarettes and all tobacco products among adults
- Reading: Smoke Screen: The Pursuit to Create Doubt
- Video: Industry Insider Perspective: Interview with Bill Farone
- Video: Massachusetts Tobacco Tax Campaign: Interview with Howard Koh
- Reading: An analysis of the successful 1992 Massachusetts tobacco tax initiative
- Reading: The first decade of the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program
- Reading: Module 2: Lesson 1 Optional Readings and Resources
- Video: Evolving Marketplace of Nicotine Products with Mike Cummings
- Video: Contradictions within Industry Behavior with Mike Cummings
- Reading: The past is not the future in tobacco control
- Video: Module 2 Wrap-up
- Reading: Module 2: Optional Readings, Resources and Slides
- Graded: Quiz 1
Module 3: Tobacco Policy: History and Best Practices
- Video: Introduction to Tobacco Policy
- Video: Tobacco Control Policy
- Video: Global Tobacco Policy (FCTC)
- Reading: CDC Best Practices Guide
- Reading: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids webpage on the WHO FCTC
- Reading: The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: an overview
- Reading: New proposed cigarette health warnings
- Reading: FDA requires new health warnings for cigarettes packages and advertisements
- Reading: Graphic warning labels on cigarettes could have prevented hundreds of thousands of deaths
- Reading: Court ruling against FDA’s graphic cigarette warnings is wrong on the law and must be appealed
- Reading: Module 3: Lesson 2 Optional Readings and Resources
- Reading: FDA announces plans for proposed rule to reduce addictiveness of cigarettes and other combusted tobacco products
- Reading: The U.S. government’s call for deep nicotine reduction in cigarettes could save millions of lives - an expert who studies tobacco addiction explains
- Reading: Module 3: Lesson 3 Optional Readings and Resources
- Video: Policy Interventions and Unintended Consequences - Abby Friedman
- Discussion Prompt: Tobacco control policy intervention
- Video: Module 3 Wrap-up
- Reading: Let’s Make the Next Generation Tobacco-Free: Your Guide to the 50th Anniversary Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health
- Reading: Module 3: Optional Readings, Resources and Slides
Module 4: Legal Action: The Pursuit of Accountability and Industry Behavior Change
- Video: Litigation Introduction
- Reading: Epidemiology of the third wave of tobacco litigation in the United States, 1994-2005
- Video: Tobacco on Trial: Claims with Mike Cummings
- Video: Tobacco on Trial: Issues and Processes with Mike Cummings
- Reading: Tobacco Manufacturers’ Defence Against Plaintiffs’ Claims of Cancer Causation: Throwing Mud at the Wall and Hoping Some of It Will Stick
- Video: A Look Back at the History of Tobacco Litigation and What Changed in the 1990s: Interview with Dan Zegart
- Video: State Attorney General Action and the Master Settlement Agreement: Interview with Mike Moore
- Reading: Master Settlement Agreement Summary
- Discussion Prompt: Did the MSA meet its stated aims?
- Video: Module 4 Wrap-up
- Reading: Module 4: Optional Reading and Slides
- Graded: Quiz 2
Modules 5: Tobacco Harm Reduction, Product Regulation, and the Continuum of Risk
- Video: Harm Reduction Module Introduction
- Video: Introduction to Harm Reduction with Mike Cummings
- Video: Historical Context of Alternative Nicotine Products with Mike Cummings
- Video: Modern Context of Alternative Nicotine Products with Mike Cummings
- Reading: Clearing the Smoke: Assessing the Science Base for Tobacco Harm Reduction - Executive Summary
- Video: Harm Reduction Controversy and the Issue of Common Goals with Mitch Zeller
- Reading: The Future of Nicotine Regulation: Key Questions and Challenges
- Reading: Module 5, Lesson 1: Optional Readings and Resources
- Reading: Considering Different Perspectives on E-Cigarettes and Harm Reduction
- Reading: Balancing Consideration of the Risks and Benefits of E-Cigarettes
- Reading: A Proposed Policy Agenda For Electronic Cigarettes In The US: Product, Price, Place, And Promotion
- Reading: How to Think—Not Feel—about Tobacco Harm Reduction
- Discussion Prompt: Advocate A Different Perspective
- Video: Module 5 Wrap-up
- Reading: Module 5: Optional Readings, Resources and Slides
Module 6: Using Modeling to Project the Impact of Tobacco Policy
- Video: Modeling Introduction
- Video: What Is Modeling? with Rafael Meza
- Video: Why Do We Model? with Rafael Meza
- Video: Modeling in Tobacco Control with Rafael Meza
- Video: Menthol Cigarettes: Past, Present, and Future with David Mendez
- Reading: Why is the FDA seeking to ban menthol cigarettes? 4 questions answered
- Reading: CDC Fact Sheet on Menthol Tobacco Products
- Video: Youth Nicotine Use with Ruoyan Sun
- Reading: CDC Fact Sheet on Youth and Tobacco Use
- Video: Forecasting Future Smoking Prevalence with Ken Warner
- Reading: Monitoring the increase in the U.S. smoking cessation rate and its implication for future smoking prevalence
- Reading: Module 6, Lesson 2: Optional Readings and Resources
- Video: Module 6 Wrap-up
- Reading: Module 6: Optional Readings, Resources and Slides
- Graded: Quiz 3
Module 7: The Tobacco Endgame
- Video: What is the Tobacco Endgame and Why Does It Matter?
- Video: Smoking Endgame in Aotearoa New Zealand: Case Study with Ben Youdan
- Reading: Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan
- Reading: A Global First: New Zealand Passes Tobacco Endgame Bill Package
- Video: Moderated Panel Discussion with Chris Bostic, Ann McNeill, and Ken Warner
- Video: Module 7 Wrap-up
- Reading: Module 7, Lesson 3: Optional Readings, Resources, and Slides
- Video: Course Conclusion
- Reading: Post-Course Survey
- Graded: Tobacco "Endgame" Scenario Analysis
Grading Policy
Learners must earn an overall grade of 80% to pass and receive a certificate. Quizzes are worth 60% of your final grade and the peer-reviewed endgame assignment is worth 40%.
Course content developed by U-M faculty and managed by the university. Faculty titles and affiliations are updated periodically.
Beginner Level
No prior experience required
Course Video
What Learners Are Saying
What we have now is a public health opportunity to move smokers, especially those unable or unwilling to quit, down the continuum of risk ... from the most harmful form of nicotine delivery, to the least harmful forms.
Mitch Zeller Former Director of the Center for Tobacco Products, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
