CALL FOR PAPERS^[2]

The Congress theme is:

“Advancing Tobacco Harm Reduction through Scientific Collaboration”

The objective of the Congress is to advance our knowledge and understanding of the science related to Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) applicable to all aspects from agricultural raw material production to product characterization, nonclinical and clinical assessment as well as product use behavior. In the spirit of promoting scientific collaboration, academic non-member researchers are also encouraged to submit abstracts for this event.

This aligns with CORESTA’s mission “to promote and facilitate international cooperation and best practices in scientific research relative to tobacco and its derived products”. The theme also correspondingly fits well with the objectives of the Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) Committee established by CORESTA. This Committee has been tasked with studying, developing, and executing actionable objectives to advance the science related to THR.

CORESTA invites abstracts for oral and poster presentations related to two major categories based on the Study Groups.

1.  AGRONOMY & LEAF INTEGRITY AND PHYTOPATHOLOGY & GENETICS

The study groups related to this category encourage submission of abstracts including, but not limited to, the following topics:

• The effect of agronomy on leaf composition, such as alkaloids, harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs) and other compounds
• Agronomy-related harm reduction, such as nicotine reduction through agronomic practices and/or breeding, and ways to reduce TSNAs at the farm level
• Technology, such as genetics and breeding, variety development, germplasm preservation, biological processes, agronomic practices, smart farming, economics
• Supply chain integrity, such as supply chain due diligence, human rights impact assessment, agricultural labour practices, traceability, Environmental impact, Social responsibility and Governance (ESG)
• Crop and environmental protection, such as crop protection agents, integrated pest management, biocontrol, diagnostics, monitoring, organic production, emerging pest and disease issues
• Sustainability in agricultural raw material production for tobacco and nicotine products, such as reforestation and biodiversity, curing fuel sustainability, water resources, Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), soil conservation, improving efficiencies, crop production practices, farmer and field technician education, social and economic issues
• Alternative crops, such as crop diversification related to tobacco production and farmer financial sustainability.

2.  PRODUCT SCIENCE AND PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY

The study groups related to this category encourage submission of abstracts including, but not limited to, scientific research related to conventional tobacco products and next generation smoke-free products such as e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and novel oral products containing tobacco-derived nicotine products. The specific topics may be related to tobacco harm reduction (THR):

• Characterization of tobacco and nicotine products such as test methods for conventional and smoke-free products, comparisons of HPHC levels for smoke-free products vs cigarettes
• Toxicological assessments such as in vitro / in vivo characterization of smoke-free products, emerging technologies, and application to smoke-free products, Toxicity Testing in the 21^st Century (TT21C), predictive toxicology, New Approach Methodologies (NAM)
• Clinical evaluation of tobacco and nicotine products such as emerging fit-for-purpose biomarkers for the assessment of risk reduction potential of smoke-free products, novel biomarkers of exposure to measure compliance or to differentiate smoke-free product use, abuse liability assessment, human factors analysis
• Product use behaviour such as characterizing use behaviour of smoke-free products as actually used, novel methods to determine switching behaviour, emerging technologies to characterize topography of use of smoke-free products, new methods to track product use behaviour in longitudinal studies, advances in determining consumer reported outcome measures
• Facilitators and barriers to switching from cigarettes to smoke-free such as misperceptions of harm from nicotine and lack of awareness of differential risk of smoke-free products vs combustible cigarettes, role of nicotine, flavours, and other factors in switching behaviour
• Product technology such as innovative research that explores the transformative impact of AI and other cutting-edge technologies in advancing tobacco harm reduction
• Environmental impact assessment of tobacco and nicotine products
• Proposed product regulations and guidelines such as menthol and flavour bans, reduction in nicotine levels of combustible cigarettes, nicotine pouches safety and quality guidance.