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 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 comics 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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