BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//132.216.98.100//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.20.4// BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20260727T100824EDT-30350DJPuT@132.216.98.100 DTSTAMP:20260727T140824Z DESCRIPTION:EPIDEMIOLOGY SEMINAR SERIES - Fall 2015\n\nJack Siemiatycki \n \nProfessor of Epidemiology\, Guzzo-Cancer Research Society Chair in Envir onment and Cancer\, Université de Montréal\, School of Public Health\, Adj unct Professor\, EBOH\, McGill University\n\nHow to provide epidemiologic support for a class action lawsuit against the tobacco industry\n\nALL ARE WELCOME\n\nSYNOPSIS:\n\nLawsuits against the tobacco industry\, if succes sful\, have the potential to compensate victims of smoking and to diminish the capacity of the tobacco industry to continue to function with impunit y. Up to now\, the only successful legal actions against Big Tobacco have been those brought on behalf of states or provinces to recover national he alth care costs associated with tobacco diseases\, and those brought on be half of individual victims\, in which financial damages were sought.\n\nCl ass action lawsuits to recover damages on behalf of the huge numbers of vi ctims have not previously been successful. The problem is that the tobacco industry has successfully argued that such a lawsuit requires a demonstra tion of “more likely than not” causation for each plaintiff. Depending on the jurisdiction\, there may be many thousands or millions of incident cas es annually\, and it is impossible to bring them all into court individual ly to determine whether smoking was “more likely than not” a contributing cause of each case.\n\nFifteen years ago\, class action suit was launched in Quebec on behalf of all lung cancer patients whose disease was caused b y cigarette smoking. The plaintiffs’ lawyers asked me to estimate how many cases of cancer were caused by smoking. This sounds like the classic attr ibutable fraction in epidemiology. But upon refinement\, the question beca me one that has not previously been addressed in epidemiology: What propor tion of lung cancer cases in Quebec\, if they hypothetically could be indi vidually evaluated\, would satisfy the “more likely than not” criterion?\n \nThe novel methodology I developed is based on two stages. First I estima ted the dose-response relationship between smoking and lung cancer\, for w hich I use the pack-years as a measure of smoking. I define the amount of smoking that is required to induce a two-fold risk as the “critical amount ” that makes it more likely than not that smoking contributed to the cance r. Depending on the model used and considering statistical variability\, I estimated that the critical amount required to double the risk was somewh ere between 5 and 12 pack-years of smoking.\n\nThen I had to estimate what fraction of Quebec lung cancer patients had smoked more than the critical amount. I estimated this to be over 90%.\n\nThe Quebec trial\, at which I testified and was cross-examined at length and criticized by a parade of defense witnesses\, ended in 2014. The judge has made his judgement. He su pported the plaintiffs. I will describe some aspects of the trial.\n\nOBJE CTIVES:\n\n1) Explain and demonstrate a novel epidemiologic parameter that can be used in class action lawsuits.\n\n2) Describe how epidemiologic re search can feed into a legal framework.\n\n3) Describe the outcome of a tr ial against the Canadian tobacco industry.\n\nBIO:\n\nJack Siemiatycki has a PhD in epidemiology from McGill University and is currently Professor o f epidemiology at l’Université de Montréal. He has held a Canada Research Chair and is currently the Guzzo-SRC Chair in Environment and Cancer\, and is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He has served on over 150 national and international boards and expert advisory bodies for academic and government agencies in Canada\, the US and Europe\, such as t he National Cancer Institute of Canada\, Canadian Institutes of Health Res earch\, National Cancer Institute (U.S.)\, Institut de recherche en santé publique (France)\, INSERM (France)\, American College of Epidemiology\, I ARC and WHO. He was an associate editor of Amer J Epidemiology\, and other journals\, and he has chaired many grant review panels. Most of his resea rch has been in the area of environmental and occupational etiology of can cer. He is known for having developed novel and influential design and exp osure assessment methods in occupational etiology of cancer\, and for resu lts from a variety of case-control studies concerning a wide variety of po ssible environmental carcinogens. In the authoritative IARC Monograph prog ram\, his research results have been cited more often than those of any ot her epidemiology research team. Prof Siemiatycki has been an invited speak er at over 160 meetings or seminars throughout the world\, including for P resident Clinton’s Cancer Panel\, and as a Distinguished Lecturer at the U .S. National Cancer Institute. He has authored or co-authored over 270 pee r-reviewed articles\, chapters and scientific reports. He was the principa l expert witness in the largest ever successful class action lawsuit again st the tobacco industry.\n\n \n\n \n DTSTART:20151026T200000Z DTEND:20151026T210000Z LOCATION:Room 521\, Meakins\, McIntyre Medical Building\, CA\, QC\, Montrea l\, H3G 1Y6\, 3655 promenade Sir William Osler SUMMARY:Epidemiology Seminar URL:https://www.mcgill.ca/epi-biostat-occh/channels/event/epidemiology-semi nar-255482 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR