Walker et al. BMC Public Health 2011, 11:37 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/37 research on behalf of NicoNovum (a manufacturer of smoking cessation medications), but prior to the purchase of the company by RJ Reynolds. NW has provided consultancy to the manufacturers of smoking cessation medications, received honoraria for speaking at a research meeting and received benefits in kind and travel support from a manufacturer of smoking cessation medications. MG has provided consultancy to the manufacturers of smoking cessation medications. The author’s spouses, partners, or children have no financial relationships that may be relevant to the submitted work. All authors have no non-financial interests that may be relevant to the submitted work. Received: 14 December 2010 Accepted: 14 January 2011 Published: 14 January 2011 References 1. Ministry of Health: Tobacco Facts, 2003. Public Health Intelligence Occasional Report No 20 Wellington: Ministry of Health, New Zealand; 2003. 2. Ministry of Health: A Portrait of Health: Key results of the 2006/07 New Zealand Health Survey. Wellington: Ministry of Health, New Zealand; 2008. 3. Edwards R, Bowler T, Atkinson J, Wilson N: Low and declining cigarette smoking rates among doctors and nurses: 2006 New Zealand Census data. NZ Med J 2008, 121(1284) [http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/121-1284/ 3310]. 4. National Institute on Drug Abuse: Nicotine addiction. Research report series. National Institute on Drug Abuse; NIH publication number 01-4342; 1998. 5. Walker N, Bullen C, McRobbie H: Reduced nicotine cigarettes as an aid to smoking cessation. Nic Tob Res 2009, 11(11):1274-1279. 6. Heatherton T, Kozlowski L, Frecker R, Fagerstrom K: The Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence: a revision of the Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire. Br J Addict 1991, 86(9):1119-1127. 7. West R, Hajek P: Evaluation of the mood and physical symptoms scale (MPSS) to assess cigarette withdrawal. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2004, 177(1-2):195-199. 8. Hughes JR: Effects of abstinence from tobacco: Valid symptoms and time course. Nic Tob Res 2007, 9(3):315-327. 9. Bush K, Kivlahan D, McDonell M, Fihn S, Bradley K, for the Ambulatory Care Quality Improvement Project (ACQUIP): The AUDIT Alcohol Consumption Questions (AUDIT-C): An Effective Brief Screening Test for Problem Drinking. Arch Intern Med 1998, 158:1789-1795. 10. Bullen C, Howe C, Lin RB, Grigg M, Laugeson M, McRobbie H, Glover M, Walker N, Wallace-Bell M, Whittaker R: Pre-cessation nicotine replacement therapy. Pragmatic randomised trial. Addiction 2010, 105(8):1474-1483. 11. Ellenburg S, Fleming T, DeMets D: Data monitoring committees in clinical trials: a practical perspective Chichester: John Wiley & Sons; 2002. 12. Hunt D, Blakely T, Woodward A, Wilson N: The smoking-mortality association varies over time and by ethnicity in New Zealand. Int J Epidemiol 2005, 34:1020-1028. 13. West R, Hajek P, Stead L, Stapleton J: Outcome criteria in smoking cessation trials: proposal for a common standard. Addiction 2005, 100(3):299-303. 14. Blakely T, Carter K, Wilson N, Edwards R, Woodward A, Thomson G, Sarfati D: If nobody smoked tobacco in New Zealand from 2020 onwards, what effect would this have on ethnic inequalities in life expectancy? NZ Med J 2010, 123(1320), ISSN 1175 8716. Pre-publication history The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/37/prepub doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-37 Cite this article as: Walker et al.: Study protocol for a randomised trial of nicotine-free cigarettes as an adjunct to usual NRT-based cessation practice, in people who wish to stop smoking. BMC Public Health 2011 11:37. Page 8 of 8 Submit your next manuscript to BioMed Central and take full advantage of: • Convenient online submission • Thorough peer review • No space constraints or color ﬁgure charges • Immediate publication on acceptance • Inclusion in PubMed, CAS, Scopus and Google Scholar • Research which is freely available for redistribution Submit your manuscript at www.biomedcentral.com/submit