Case studies of indoor air regulations: role of research

Institution:	University of California, San Francisco
Investigator(s):	Lisa Bero, Ph.D.
Award Cycle:	1997 (Cycle 6)	Grant #: 6RT-0025	Award: $292,210
Subject Area:	Public Health, Public Policy, and Economics
Award Type:	Research Project Awards

Abstracts

Initial Award Abstract

The purpose of the proposed project is to provide information to policy makers, researchers, and the public health community that will help them more effectively use the scientific data on tobacco to guide the development and acceptance of tobacco control policies. In order to examine the roles of research and lay press coverage of research in the formation of policy, we will conduct case studies of four passive smoke policies:

1) Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Indoor Air Quality Regulation (pending).

2) Maryland regulation prohibiting smoking in all enclosed workplaces (final).

3) Washington Clean Indoor Air Law prohibiting smoking in most enclosed workplaces (final).

4) California Indoor Air Regulation (not yet drafted). For this early stage of regulation, we will assess the risk assessments of secondhand smoke conducted by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) which are required to precede any proposed regulation.

These policies represent both federal and state level actions and vary in their degree of comprehensiveness and rate of formation. In another project, we are examining the following aspects of each case study: 1) the scientific evidence-base for each regulation, 2) the extent and content of the tobacco industry's, public health and research communities' responses to each regulation, and 3) the extent and content of newspaper coverage of each regulation. The proposed project will complete the analysis and dissemination of the findings from these case studies through the following specific aims:

1) To provide a description of the context of each regulation by describing the administrative rulemaking process for each regulation, including a description of the agency procedure for consideration, publication and comment; describing the content and outcomes of legal challenges or appeals made during the rule-making procedure or following promulgation of the regulation; and providing summary data about indoor air regulations from other states.

2) To describe the extent and content of electronic media coverage of each regulation (including television, radio and internet coverage).

3) To prepare a guide for researchers and public health agencies that will provide specific advice on how to optimize the use of their research to influence policy. The guide will also suggest an agenda for more policy-oriented research, including the development of the information base necessary to counter anticipated attacks on the scientific merits of tobacco control measures.

Publications

The tobacco industry's efforts to prevent the passage of a workplace smoking regulation
Periodical: American Journal of Public Health			Index Medicus:
Authors: Mangurian C, Bero L				ART
Yr: 2000	Vol: 90	Nbr:	Abs:	Pg: 1926-1930

Policy makers' perspectives on public health advocates' roles in regulation: lessons from tobacco control
Periodical: Tobacco Control			Index Medicus:
Authors: Montini T, Bero LA				ART
Yr: 0	Vol:	Nbr:	Abs:	Pg:

The tobacco industry's efforts to prevent the passage of a workplace smoking regulation
Periodical: American Journal of Public Health			Index Medicus:
Authors: Mangurian C, Bero L				ART
Yr: 2000	Vol: 90	Nbr:	Abs:	Pg: 1926-1930

Policy makers' perspectives on public health advocates' roles in regulation: lessons from tobacco control
Periodical: Tobacco Control			Index Medicus:
Authors: Montini T, Bero LA				ART
Yr: 0	Vol:	Nbr:	Abs:	Pg: