Evaluating the Scientific Evidence
for Potential Reduced-Risk Tobacco Products



Population Effects and Behavior Assessment Committee Meeting
August 30-31, 2005
Bethesda, MD

  Minutes
      LSRO's Population Effects and Behavior Assessment Committee (PEBA) met for the second time on the FASEB Campus, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda MD, on August 30-31, 2005. PEBA committee members present were Gregory Gasic, Ph.D., Harriet de Wit, Ph.D., Bill Eadington, Ph.D., and Warren Bickel, Ph.D. Heping Zhang, Ph.D., participated by conference call. The Committee was joined by three members of the LSRO Core Committee: Alwynelle Ahl, Ph.D., D.V.M.; Richard C. Schwing, Ph.D.; and Richard Windsor, Ph.D., M.P.H. LSRO staff members present were Catherine St. Hilaire, Ph.D., Michael Falk, Ph.D., Daniel Byrd, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., Keith Lenghaus, Ph.D., Carmen Mones, B.A and Karin French, B.S. Several members of the public attended the information gathering sessions of the meeting: Maria Varga, M.D. (Star Scientific); Tom Claps, Esq., (U.S. Smokeless); and Scott Ballin (Alliance for Health, Economic and Agriculture Development).

Rachel Caspar, M.A., Julie Downs, Ph.D., and Jed Rose, Ph.D. made presentations during the information gathering session on August 30th and Anthony Cuticchia, Ph.D., made a presentation during the information gathering session on the 31st.

The committee achieved its goals for the meeting which included the development of recommendations on survey design and requirements, abuse liability studies and preference testing, and a discussion of approaches to modeling population effects associated with potential reduced-risk tobacco products.

At present, there are no additional meetings scheduled for the PEBA committee.