Stanton Glantz, PhD

Profile

Professor of Medicine

Dr. Glantz, the American Legacy Foundation Distinguished Professor of Tobacco Control, conducts research on a wide range of topics ranging from the health effects of secondhand smoke (with particular emphasis on the cardiovascular system) to the efficacy of different tobacco control policies.

Dr. Glantz conducts research on a wide range of issues ranging from the effects of secondhand smoke on the heart through the reductions in heart attacks observed when smokefree policies are enacted, to how the tobacco industry fights tobacco control programs. His research on the effects of secondhand smoke on blood and blood vessels has helped explain why, in terms of heart disease, the effects of secondhand smoke are nearly as large as smoking. Consistent with what would be expected from the biology of secondhand smoke, he demonstrated a large and rapid reduction in the number of people admitted to the hospital with heart attacks in Helena, Montana, after that community made all workplaces and public places smokefree. His work in this area was identified as one of the “top research advances for 2005" by the American Heart Association. He was one of the people who first argued that controlling youth access to tobacco products was not an effective tobacco control strategy and was on of the first people to identify the importance of young adults (not just teens) as targets for the tobacco industry and efforts at smoking cessation and tobacco use prevention.

He is author or coauthor of numerous publications related to secondhand smoke and tobacco control, as well as many papers on cardiovascular function and biostatistics. He has written several books, including the widely used Primer of Biostatistics (which has been translated into Japanese, French, Russian, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish, and Primer of Applied Regression and Analysis of Variance). In total, he is the author of 4 books and nearly 300 scientific papers, including the first major review (published in Circulation) which identified involuntary smoking as a cause of heart disease and the landmark July 19, 1995 issue of JAMA on the Brown and Williamson documents, which showed that the tobacco industry knew nicotine was addictive and that smoking caused cancer 30 years ago. This publication was followed up with his book, The Cigarette Papers, which has played a key role in the ongoing litigation surrounding the tobacco industry. His book Tobacco Wars: Inside the California Battles chronicles the last quarter century of battles against the tobacco industry in California. He also wrote Tobacco: Biology and Politics for high school students and The Uninvited Guest, a story about secondhand smoke, for second graders. He is now running two educational projects, SmokeFreeMovies.ucsf.edu, which is working to end use of movies to promote tobacco, and TobaccoScam.ucsf.edu, which is countering tobacco industry efforts to coopt the hospitality industry.

Working with the UCSF Library, he has taken the lead in making over 62 million pages of previously secret tobacco industry documents available to the entire world via the internet. This effort has help create a whole new area of scientific investigation based on tobacco industry documents.

He served for 10 years as an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and is a member of the California State Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2005.

He has traveled widely and lectured on scientific and policy issues related to clean indoor air, smoking in the movies, and effective tobacco control strategies. His work has attracted considerable attention from the tobacco industry, which has sued the University of California (unsuccessfully) twice in an effort to stop Prof. Glantz' work.

Health Effects of Secondhand Smoke

Secondhand smoke has many effects on the body. This project focuses on short-term effects on the heart, blood and blood vessels. Even a few minutes of exposure is dangerous. This research concentrates on estimating the size of these effects and also understanding the underlying biology.
Analysis of Tobacco Industry Documents

The tobacco industry is like an intelligent and aggressive ever-evolving pathogen that accounts for one-third of all cancer and nearly two-thirds of heart disease among people under 55. To reduce this burden of disease requires understanding how the tobacco industry maintains a social and policy environment favorable to smoking. To understand a pathogen, one might study its genetic code. To understand the tobacco industry, we have a written record of its research and decision making process in the form of over 62 million pages of previously secret tobacco industry documents now available at the UCSF Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. This research uses this unique resource to understand how the tobacco industry works to shape the environment, and what public health authorities and advocates can do to anticipate and counter the tobacco industry’s adaptive strategies (legal, political, scientific, propagandistic) to frustrate and subvert smoking prevention and cessation programs.
Effect of Tobacco Advocacy at the State Level

Most effective tobacco control policy in the United States has been done at the local and, more recently, state level. This project uses case study methods to research how the tobacco industry and tobacco control professionals influence state and local policy making to develop knowledge that will lead to more effective tobacco control policies and strategies, while taking into account the major changes and uncertainties in the tobacco control policy environment that continue to occur:
Smoking in the Movies

Exposure to onscreen smoking in movies is the largest single factor promoting youth smoking in the United States, accounting for about 44% of all new smokers. This project seeks to understand the effects of smoking in the movies on youth and young adults, the historical links between the tobacco and entertainment industries, and to develop and promote effective policy responses to this problem. The research forms the basis for the Smoke Free Movies educational and advocacy campaign.

Education:

University of Cincinnati, OH, BS, 1969, Aerospace Engineering
Stanford University, CA, MS, 1970, Applied Mechanics
Stanford University, CA, PhD, 1973, Applied Mechanics and Engineering Economic Systems
Stanford University, CA, Postdoc, 1975, Cardiology
University of California San Francisco, CA, Postdoc, 1977, Cardiovascular Research

Publications:

1. J. Lightwood, A. Dinno, S. Glantz. Effect of the California Tobacco Control Program on personal health care expenditures. PLoS Medicine 5(8):e178, 2008. PMC2522256
2. A. Dinno, S. A. Glantz. Tobacco Control Polices Are Egalitarian: A Vulnerabilities Perspective on Clean Indoor Air Laws, Cigarette Prices, and Tobacco Use Disparities. Soc. Sci. Med. 68: 1439-1447, 2009. PMC2748432 [Available on 2010/04/01].
3. P. Ling, T. Neilands, S. Glantz. Factors Associated with Young Adult Smoking Behavior: a National Survey. Am. J. Prev. Med 36(5):389–394, 2009. PMC2700137 [Available on 2010/05/01]
4. H. Mamudu, S. Glantz. Civil society and the negotiation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Global Pub. Health 4:150-168, 2009. PMC2664518 [Available on 2010/01/01]
5. M. Otanez, S. Glantz. Trafficking in tobacco farm culture: Tobacco companies use of video imagery to undermine health policy. Visual Anthropology Review 2009; 25: 1-25. doi: 10.1111/j.1548-7458.2009.01006. NIHMS75209
6. S. Glantz, R. Barnes, S.Eubanks. Compromise or Capitulation: US Food and Drug Administration Jurisdiction Over Tobacco Products. PLoS Med 2009; 6(7): e1000118. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000118 PMC2709428
7. R. Schane, S. Glantz, P. Ling. Social Smoking: Implications for Public Health, Clinical Practice, and Intervention Research. Am. J. Prev. Med. 37: 124-131, 2009. PMC2771192
8. M. Otanez, H. Mamudu, S. Glantz. Tobacco Companies' Use of Developing Countries' Economic Reliance on Tobacco to Lobby Against Global Tobacco Control: The Case of Malawi. Am. J. Pub. Health 99(10):1759-71, 2009. PMC 2741530
9. J. Lightwood, S. Glantz. Declines in acute myocardial infarction following smoke free laws and individual risk attributable to secondhand smoke. Circulation 120:1373-1379, 2009. PMCID in progress
10. K. Lum, R. Barnes, S. Glantz. Enacting Tobacco Taxes by Direct Popular Vote in the United States: Lessons from 20 Years of Experience. Tobacco Control 2009 Oct;18(5):377-86. PMCID in progress
11. R. Schane, S. Glantz, P. Ling. Nondaily and Social Smoking: An Increasingly Prevalent Pattern. Arch. Int. Med. 2009; 169(19):1742-1744. PMCID in progress.
12. J.K. Cataldo, J.J. Prochaska, S.A. Glantz. Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease: a meta analysis controlling for tobacco industry affiliation. J Alzheimer’s Dis 19(2):465-80 PMCID in progress
13. A.V. Song, S.A. Glantz, B.L. Halpern-Felsher. Perceptions of secondhand smoke risk predict future adolescent smoking initiation. J Adolesc Health 45 (6): 618-625 PMC2814413
14. Q. Gan, J. Yang, G. Yang, M. Goniewicz, N.L. Benowitz, S.A. Glantz. Chinese “herbal” cigarettes are as carcinogenic and addictive as regular cigarettes. Cancer Epi. Biomark. Prev. 18 (12): 3497-501 PMC2789338
15. 2010 R. Schane, P. Ling, S. Glantz. Health effects of light and intermittent smoking: A review. Circulation 121: 1518-1522 NIHMSID 189976

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