顶级国产视频

F&M Stories

Trailblazing Research Examines Cigarette Label Alternatives

Three 顶级国产视频 & Marshall students helped conduct a groundbreaking pilot study in Lancaster this summer. 

Ibrahim Bin Amjad 鈥27, Josh Anderson 鈥27 and Jocelyn Chow 鈥26 assessed the efficacy of adding safer tobacco alternatives to cigarette warnings under the tutelage of Hollie Tripp, assistant professor of government & public health. 

Tripp鈥檚 work centers around understanding how people make choices in an effort to improve health policies. Presently, her research focuses on tobacco regulatory science. 

The team recruited participants from the Lancaster community to assess the effects of cigarette warnings on smoking behavior, collecting biospecimens and qualitative data. 

Josh Anderson works in F&M's Biosafety Level 2 labThe United States became the world鈥檚 first nation to require a health warning on cigarette packages in 1966. These health warning labels are widely regarded as effective tobacco control interventions.

Since that time, (MRTP) have come to market. These products, such as Zyn nicotine pouches, pose lower risks to individuals and populations than traditional cigarettes and have been approved by the FDA. 

鈥淲hile such products carry reduced risk messages on their respective packaging, those who smoke may be unaware that products safer than combustible cigarettes exist,鈥 Tripp said.

Tripp wondered if including MRTP alternatives on cigarette warning labels could lead to less harmful decisions among those who are not ready to quit using tobacco.

鈥淗ow do we communicate products with less harm than cigarettes?鈥 Tripp asked. 

Tripp and the students recruited and conducted a mixed-methods study of adult smokers over age 21. Participants were eligible if they smoked five or more cigarettes daily as their primary form of tobacco use, were not pregnant or trying to quit smoking. 

Using random assignment and daily text messages, the researchers showed smokers cigarette warning labels either with or without a MRTP alternative. 

Participants gave a urine sample before using a MRTP and a sample after to examine metabolites for nicotine. They were also interviewed about their thoughts of and trust in tobacco warnings.

F&M students Ibrahim Bin Amjad and Jocelyn Chow handle biospecimen samples

Samples were analyzed in a Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) laboratory on campus. Amjad, Anderson and Chow received extensive training to handle biological materials. 

It was the first instance of F&M student research involving the collection of human biospecimens from a non-campus community.

鈥淭he fact that this was the first human subjects research study collecting biospecimens on campus is pretty amazing. That means public health students 鈥 and even our pre-med students 鈥 can get these valuable experiences as undergraduates, Tripp said.

鈥淭hat's pretty rare at a small liberal arts college,鈥 she added.

Ultimately, Tripp and students are hoping to shift smokers away from harm with their research. 

鈥淧eople know that smoking is bad for them, but abstinence-only messaging may miss a trick,鈥 Tripp said. 

The work is a continuation of research done by Tripp, Chow and Faris Grbic 鈥26 through Hackman Scholar funding; additional research was supported by faculty start-up funds. In May, Tripp and Chow鈥檚 research paper was published by the .

The pair also presented at the annual meeting in New Orleans last spring. 

鈥淚 especially enjoyed interviewing participants and hearing their thought processes behind certain tobacco products and warning images,鈥 Chow said of the research continuation. 鈥淚t was also really interesting to see how varied their reactions were and how warning labels impacted their health decisions in different ways. That was really rewarding.鈥

Below, learn more about the students involved in this research. 

Research group

Ibrahim Bin Amjad '27, Josh Anderson '27, Jocelyn Chow '26 and Hollie Tripp, assistant professor of government & public health. (Photo by Deb Grove)

Ibrahim Bin Amjad 鈥27

What was the most surprising thing about this research? 

鈥淚鈥檓 learning stuff out of my comfort zone. This required a lot of BSL [Biosafety Level] lab training, handling human samples and quantitative work. I donned my lab coat in the morning from 8 a.m. to noon., and then as soon as I got home, I was doing qualitative interviews until 5 p.m. It was like two different worlds.鈥

Josh Anderson 鈥27

What inspired you to take on this research?

鈥淚 loved [Tripp鈥檚] drug policy class. I was already interested in how drugs and government intersect. I was really excited to work in an environment that was different to me in a research setting. I knew going into college that I wanted to do research. My goal is to go into the nonprofit global health sector.鈥

Jocelyn Chow 鈥26

  • Hometown: Emmaus, Pa.
  • Major: Public health (biology)
What did you enjoy most about this research?

鈥淚t has definitely given me a bigger interest in health communication as it relates to public health. And as a pre-med student, I'm really interested in seeing the different aspects of how public health relates to medicine and how medicine is inherently human. There are a lot of different things that go into it other than just pure science.鈥

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