(TCRC) Check out "Tobacco FactFile", an online resource on tobacco and health at http://www.tobaccofactfile.org. The British Medical Association's (BMA) Tobacco Control Resource Centre launched this website to coincide with the World Health Organization's recent adoption of the historic, first international public health treaty on tobacco and health, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. This treaty will commit governments worldwide to take concrete action to stem the tide of tobacco-related illness and death.

Tobacco FactFile's online database is designed for health professionals, educationalists, the public and the media. It is the first one-stop information source about tobacco of its kind. The launch of 'Tobacco FactFile' took place at midday at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, with Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) serving as the keynote speaker.

All information produced by 'Tobacco FactFile' has a quality stamp as it has been peer-reviewed by 'Tobacco FactFile's' expert editorial board. Upon its release, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, BMA Head of Science and Ethics, said, "In a world where misinformation and myth are common, 'Tobacco FactFile' presents the hard truth about the global tobacco epidemic. It can be difficult to get hold of reliable information on the true impact of smoking, especially when powerful commercial interests are at play."

Welcoming the project, Professor Sir Richard Doll, whose pioneering research first demonstrated the link between smoking and lung cancer, said: "Effective tobacco control policies must be firmly rooted in the evidence. 'Tobacco FactFile' presents reliable information on the true consequences of tobacco use. A treasury of information for tobacco control."

'Tobacco FactFile' differs from other databases currently available online. Rather than being a traditional bibliographic database, it can provide ready access to key pieces of information with the assurance that experts in the field have selected these. Visitors to 'FactFile' can sign up to receive a randomly selected fact every week or month. They can also put a banner on their own website; the banner displays a new fact each time the page is refreshed. The database is also available in Spanish, German and French.

The European Commission funded the development of the database and will continue to do so through 2006.