The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

This abstract is being submitted on behalf of the collaborative group comrising of authors and reviewers of the publication "bidi smoking and public health". The collaborative group listed in the publiction have contributed to advancing the science and policy base of bidi use.

Bidis are small, brown, hand-rolled cigarettes from and smoked primarly in India and have become popular in USA and Europe, especially among young people adn are a cause if public health concern.

Although many studies have been reported in the scientific literature, an attempt is made to collate scientific information on bidis relevant to public health in form of a scientific publication which includes six main topics written by experts from India and the USA. The chapters addresses topics related to marketing, epidemiology, economics, pharmacology and toxicology, health effects and policies related to bidis.

It is expected that this publication would become a standard reference for bidis and encourage further research and promote policy strategies for its prevention and control. A summary of this publication will be presented.