Press
Release
December 15, 2008
Action on Smoking and Health, the
Canadian Council for Tobacco Control, the Canadian
Dental Association, the Canadian Medical Association,
the Coalition québécoise pour le contrôle du tabac, the
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the Ontario
Campaign for Action on Tobacco and Physicians for a
Smoke-Free Canada.
Action on Election Promise Urgently Needed
Health Groups Call on Prime Minister to Curb Tobacco
Marketing
(Ottawa
– December 15, 2008) – A tobacco advertisement in
Friday’s Ottawa Citizen – placed right beside the comics
– is the most blatant example of the urgent need for the
federal government to accelerate promised limits on
tobacco company marketing, say Canadian Health Groups.
“I was shocked to see advertisements for tobacco
products side-by-side with the comic page,” said Dr.
Robert Ouellet, President of the Canadian Medical
Association. “Of all the pages in the newspaper, this is
the one most directed at our youth.”
Ottawa emergency physician, Joe Kozar, agreed and
expressed his concern as a parent: “That's the one page
of the paper my kids read."
Tobacco advertising was once banned in Canada, but after
two lengthy legal challenges returned to Canadian
publications late last year. After the Supreme Court
ruled in favour of the federal law in the summer of
2007, then federal Health Minister, Tony Clement,
responded to calls for a comprehensive ban on tobacco
advertising. In September, 2008, the Prime Minister
promised that rules against tobacco advertising would be
tightened.
Canada is one of a handful of developed countries which
has not yet implemented a comprehensive ban on tobacco
advertising. “A recent review by the World Health
Organization showed that 83 nations had more extensive
restrictions on tobacco advertising than Canada,”
explained Dr. Atul Kapur, President of Physicians for a
Smoke-Free Canada.
“We believe that all parliamentarians
would support swift passage of a law to address tobacco
marketing,” said Dr. Ouellet. “We urge the government to
ensure that all Canadians, and especially youth, are
protected by introducing such legislation as soon
as Parliament returns.”
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For information:
Cynthia Callard, Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada.
613 233 4878
Lucie Boileau, Canadian Medical Association
613 731 8610 x 1266
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