By TRACEY DRURY
tdrury@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1609

A new $4.5 million federal grant will allow scientists at Roswell Park Cancer Institute to study tobacco advertising and educational information.

The five-year grant comes from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health in collaboration with the Center for Tobacco Products at the Food and Drug Administration.

Researchers will study a variety of issues, including whether new graphic health labels on cigarette packages keep youth from becoming addicted and help smokers quit, and if providing information about harmful and potentially harmful constituents in tobacco products deters use.

The local grant is part of a larger effort with multiple research partners, with contract awards over five years totaling $118.3 million. The overall contract was awarded to Westat in Rockville, Md., with Roswell Park designated as scientific lead for the study. Other research partners include Legacy, Pinney Associates, the University of California at San Diego, the University of Waterloo, Hooper Holmes, Fisher BioServices, AMSAZ and LUX Consulting Group.

The study, the largest to date of tobacco use in the United States, will recruit more than 44,000 adults and youth, including more than 25,000 tobacco users. Participants will be interviewed annually, and biological samples will be collected. Study data will help provide a scientific basis for evaluating tobacco-product regulations in the United States.

This study will help guide new FDA regulations and actions and examine and monitor changes in tobacco use.

Lead investigator on the project is Andrew Hyland, a research scientist in Roswell's department of health behavior.

"More than 440,000 Americans die each year from tobacco use. That's too many," he said in a news release. "I want the science generated from this study to inform the best approaches to reduce the death burden that tobacco places on our society as quickly as possible."