Canada losing war against smoking
Warnings, bans ineffective in fight
June 24, 1997
Web posted at: 3:40 a.m. EDT (0740 GMT)From Correspondent Joan MacFarlane
WINDSOR, Ontario (CNN) -- Long before the recent landmark settlement with tobacco companies in the United States, Canada tightened its cigarette laws.
The country bans most smoking advertisements and was the first to prohibit smoking on planes. It made history in 1988, when it snuffed out smoking during the Winter Olympic Games in Calgary. Most obvious, however, are the country's predominately displayed warning labels blatantly depicting smoking dangers ranging from addiction to death.
But despite the tough stance, Canadians are lighting up more than ever. An estimated 31 percent of the population smokes.
"Oh, I noticed them (the warnings), but it made no difference," said smoker Robert Allston. "It made no difference at all. It even said smoking can kill you, and I still smoke."
In fact, most Canadian smokers say no amount of warnings and regulations can get them to kick the habit.
Carrie Stott, who's smoked since she was a teen-ager, says despite her many attempts to quit, she's never been able to win the battle.
"I can actually say I don't enjoy smoking," she said. "I smoke because I am addicted."
Dean Valentino, a seven-year smoking veteran, agrees with Canada's laws restricting cigarette advertisements, but says tobacco isn't the only unhealthy product on the market.
"Promoting things that are not good for you, that damage your health and other people's health through advertising, well I think it's done every day through a lot of different things. When we advertise fast food, how much are we helping everyone's arteries?" he said.
The power of the dollar
Warning labels may not be Canada's best weapon in the war against cigarette smoking. Health officials say that when taxes pushed the price of cigarettes to more than $6 a pack, an estimated 40 percent of Canadians quit smoking.
An increase in black market sales, however, led Canadian authorities to begin reducing the tax on cigarettes in 1993. Today, a pack of Canadian cigarettes is a more affordable $3 a pack. And as a result, more Canadian teen-agers are lighting up.
According to the Canadian Lung Association, 30 percent of Canada's teenage population smokes today, compared with 20 percent in 1993.
"Teens have often said to us that price is for many of them the main indicator as to whether or not they are going to go out and smoke," said Brian Sticks of the Lung Association.
With so many young lives at stake, Canada hopes to follow the United States in their fight to recover damages from tobacco companies.
British Columbia recently passed legislation paving the way for the province to sue tobacco companies as a way of recouping medical costs for the treatment of smoking-related illnesses.
What the new legislation will mean for both countries remains to be seen.
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