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E
| E-Cigarette | synonym for Electronic Cigarette |
| Earned Media | media coverage of tobacco control issues that appears in news stories, editorials and letters to the editor as opposed to paid media, i.e., media coverage of tobacco control issues that someone plans and pays for |
| Ecological Perspective | in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, a health promotion concept that identifies five levels of influence on health, namely, individual, interpersonal, institutional, community and public policy, and posits a dynamic interaction between the person, the behaviour and the environment |
| Econometrics | the application of statistical methods to the study of economic data and problemsReference: Johnson E, Dominici F, Griswold M, Zeger SL. Disease cases and their medical costs attributable to smoking: an analysis of the national medical expenditure survey. Journal of Econometrics 2003;112(1):135-151. |
| Economic Access | sufficiency of personal or household money to obtain tobacco products as determined by disposable income relative to the price of tobacco products |
| Education Campaign | attempt to discourage tobacco use by means of information conveyed to the public or specific target groups that often emphasizes health concerns and may make use of mass media |
| Effective Date | synonym for Implementation Date |
| Effectiveness | in RE-AIM, the degree to which a tobacco control project achieves its goals in a timely, appropriate and fiscally responsible manner |
| Efficacy | the degree to which the desired outcome is associated with a tobacco control intervention under controlled conditions, e.g., randomized controlled trials |
| Efficiency | the degree to which a tobacco control intervention produces a particular benefit in relation to costs incurred, often used as a point of comparison with alternative interventions and their associated costs |
| Elasticity | in economics, the ratio of the change in one variable to the change in another variable, e.g., the ratio of a change in cigarette price to a change in cigarette sales (see also Arc Elasticity, Prevalence Elasticity, Price Elasticity)Reference: Gruber J, Sen A, Stabile M. Estimating price elasticities when there is smuggling: the sensitivity of smoking to price in Canada. Journal of Health Economics 2003;22(5):821-842. |
| Electric Stick | synonym for Electronic Cigarette |
| Electronic Cigarette | controversial tobacco-free alternative to manufactured cigarettes consisting of an electronic device that is made to look like a cigarette, which heats and vaporizes liquid nicotine when the user inhales, currently illegal in Australia and Canada (see also Food and Drugs Act) |
| Emission | release of tobacco smoke, including toxic ingredients, into the airReference: Pederson LL, Cohen J, McKenna M. Government Regulation of Tobacco Ingredients and Emissions. Special Report. Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, Toronto, January 2009. Available at: http://www.otru.org/pdf/special/special_prod_regulation.pdf; accessed Feb. 11, 2009. |
| Emphysema | a type of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) caused by tobacco smoke, which is characterized by inflammation and damage of the smallest airways and air sacs in the lungs, resulting in potentially life-threatening difficulty in breathingAvailable at: http://www.on.lung.ca/Lung-Health/Emphysema.php; accessed Feb. 24, 2009. |
| Enactment | establishment of law by authoritative act |
| Endothelial Progenitor Cell (EPC) | cell in the human body thought to play a key role in repairing blood vessels, which can be damaged by tobacco smoke |
| Enforcement | official warning or application of legal penalty if law is not obeyed |
| Enforcement Check | authorized visit to a tobacco retail outlet that has a history of selling tobacco to test shoppers to ascertain that the retailer is now in compliance with youth access provisions, e.g., of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, and to lay charges in the case of an infraction (cf. Compliance Check)Reference: Dubray J, Schwartz R, Garcia J, Bondy S, Victor JC. Formative evaluation of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act. Comparison of Baseline and Two Post-SFOA Measurements. Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, Toronto, November 2007. Available at: http://www.otru.org/pdf/special/special_nov2_2007.pdf; accessed Feb. 12, 2009. |
| Environment | in the epidemiologic model of disease transmission, the physical surroundings of host and agent |
| Environmental Approach | type of tobacco control that seeks to affect whole systems, e.g., the way cigarettes are sold in the retail environment, rather than individuals or small groups (see also Systems Thinking) |
| Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) | synonym for Secondhand Smoke, though some tobacco control professionals prefer the term secondhand smoke (cf. Thirdhand Smoke)Reference: California Environmental Protection Agency, State of California Air Resources Board. Proposed Identification of Environmental Tobacco Smoke as a Toxic Air Contaminant, 2006. Available at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/regact/ets2006/ets2006.htm; accessed Feb. 10. 2009. |
| EOT | End of Treatment, e.g., conclusion of a cessation program |
| EPA | (U.S.) Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov |
| EPC | Endothelial Progenitor Cell |
| Epi | abbreviation of epidemiologic or epidemiology |
| Epi Model | Epidemiologic Model of Disease Transmission |
| Epidemic | excessively prevalent or rapidly spreading disease or unhealthy behaviour, e.g., use of tobacco productsReference: World Health Organization. WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2008. The MPOWER Package.Geneva, 2008. Available at: http://www.who.int/tobacco/mpower/en/index.html; accessed Feb. 10, 2009. |
| Epidemiologic Model of Disease Transmission | description of the spread of disease as a result of complex interactions between a triad of agent, host and environment such that the agent (e.g., cigarette) is spread to a host (e.g., smoker) by means of a carrier called a vector (e.g., tobacco industry) within a certain environmentReference: Last JM (ed.). A Dictionary of Epidemiology, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001. |
| Epidemiology | branch of medical science that deals with the incidence, prevalence and control of disease and health determinants in a population |
| ETS | Environmental Tobacco Smoke, synonym for Secondhand Smoke |
| Evaluation | process of determining whether tobacco control programs or aspects of these programs are appropriate, adequate, effective and efficient, and, if not, how to make them so (see also Formative Evaluation, Macro-Evaluation, Process Evaluation)Reference: Starr G, Rogers T, Schooley M, Porter S, Wiesen E, Jamison N. Key Outcome Indicators for Evaluating Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, 2005. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/tobacco_control_programs/surveillance_evaluation/key_outcome/index.htm; accessed Feb. 9, 2009. |
| Ever Smoker | a current smoker or former smoker who has smoked a certain number of cigarettes in the past, usually defined as at least 100 cigarettes in a lifetime |
| Evidence-Based | conclusion or practice based on reliable factual information usually from scientific sourcesReference: Rychetnik L, Hawe P, Waters E, Barratt A, Frommer M. A glossary for evidence-based public health. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2004;58:538-545. |
| Evidence-Informed | conclusion or practice that takes into account reliable factual information from scientific sources but also utilizes supplemental types of knowledge, e.g., practitioner and client experienceAvailable at: http://www.chsrf.ca/other_documents/evidence_e.php; accessed Feb. 12, 2009. |
| Ex-Smoker | synonym for Former Smoker |
| Excise Act | 2001 Canadian federal legislation dealing with taxation of tobacco products and making it illegal under Section 32 for persons to sell, offer for sale or have in their possession a tobacco product unless it is stamped (see also Untaxed Cigarettes)http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en |
| Excise Duty | synonym for Excise Tax |
| Excise Tax | a tax within a country on the manufacture, sale or consumption of a commodity (e.g., cigarettes) which normally affects retail price such that higher excise tax results in higher retail price |
| Exemption | legal exception, e.g., under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act permission for Aboriginal persons to engage in ceremonial use of tobacco in situations where use of tobacco products would not otherwise be permissible |
| Exit Package | money paid to tobacco farmers as compensation for getting out of the business of growing tobacco |
| Expansion Diffusion | a particular model of geographic diffusion that considers distance to be a critical factor in the uptake of new tobacco control strategies, such that adoption occurs later in places further away from the point of initiationReference: Nykiforuk CI, Eyles J, Campbell HS. Smoke-free spaces over time: a policy diffusion study of bylaw development in Alberta and Ontario, Canada. Health and Social Care in the Community 2008;16:64-74. |
| Experimental Smoker | a person who has smoked more than one cigarette but less than 100 cigarettes in his or her lifetimeReference: Leatherdale ST, McDonald PW. Are the recommended taxonomies for the stages of youth smoking onset consistent with youth’s perceptions of their smoking status? Canadian Journal of Public Health 2006;97(4):316-319. |
| Exposure | contact, e.g., with secondhand smoke |
| External Validity | the extent to which study results can be generalized beyond the sample used in the study (cf. Internal Validity) |
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The OTRU Glossary of Tobacco Control provides brief definitions of over 1,000 tobacco control terms, abbreviations and acronyms. Definitions are based on many sources including dictionaries, legislative texts, websites, reports, books, peer-reviewed journal articles and communications from tobacco control experts. A single definition often reflects material from more than one source.
While we have tried to be comprehensive in producing this resource, the language of tobacco control is constantly evolving and there may be relevant terms that are not listed or terms whose meanings may have changed.
Comments about the glossary or particular definitions are welcome and can be sent to lise_anglin@camh.net. For technical assistance, please contact sonja_johnston@camh.net