Canadian health groups today expressed growing frustration with federal Health Minister Anne McLellan’s lack of action regarding the deceptive marketing of so-called ‘light’ cigarettes.

“Last year, we thought the federal government was finally going to do something to stop tobacco companies from misleading smokers about the health risks of different cigarette brands,” comments Lyne Deschênes of the Canadian Cancer Society. “For nearly six months, we’ve seen no sign of government action, while the tobacco industry continues to explore new and different ways to pursue the ‘low-tar’ deception.”

On May 31st, 2001, the government gave the tobacco industry a 100-day deadline to voluntarily withdraw the misleading terms ‘light’ and ‘mild,’ that offer worried smokers an alternative to quitting. The industry refused to comply with the request, asking for a two-year transition period and a government-sanctioned alternative scheme to differentiate ‘high-tar’ and ‘low-tar’ cigarettes. Since coming to office in January, Health Minister Anne McLellan has refused to say whether she plans to do anything at all to deal with the issue.

“Let’s be clear about what the tobacco industry is pushing,” says Deirdre Freiheit of the Canadian Lung Association. “They want a licence to continue deceiving Canadian smokers by other means, because they know that the false hope of reduced risk keeps concerned smokers in the market. For human smokers, there is no such thing as ‘high-tar’ and ‘low-tar’ cigarettes.”

Scientific evidence indicates that the dose of cancer-causing toxins addicted smokers absorb per cigarette is largely unrelated to the brand of cigarette they smoke. Because of their addiction, smokers adjust their smoking behaviour until they reach their usual dose of nicotine. And cigarettes were consciously designed to make this process as easy as possible.

“The government regulates the use of the term ‘light’ on any food item, such as margarine or yogurt, to ensure the ‘light’ products really do contain less calories,” points out Doug MacQuarrie, Director of Health Promotion for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. “But when it comes to cigarettes, the only consumer product that kills half of its long-term users, the government lets manufacturers use labels like ‘light’ and ‘mild’ without any kind of oversight or restriction.”

Action now!

In December 2001, under then-Health Minister Allan Rock, Health Canada published a Notice of Intent to Regulate. In January 2002, Rock was replaced by Anne McLellan, who has never publicly indicated whether she intends to proceed with the regulation.

“Canadians are now dying as a result of the false belief that ‘light’ and ‘mild’ products are safer than ‘full-strength’ cigarettes,” says Garfield Mahood of the Non-Smokers’ Rights Association. “The government ran a large advertising campaign last fall, telling Canadians ‘lights’ is a deceptive moniker. The European Union is banning the terms ‘light’ and ‘mild’. Brazil has already banned it. The Australians are investigating it. There are major lawsuits underway in the United States and Israel, accusing the tobacco industry of consumer fraud for its mislabelling of cigarettes. Is there any reason Canadians should be entitled to less protection from deceptive marketing practices by a predatory industry?”

Health groups have asked that the proposed regulation be improved to stop manufacturers from simply replacing ‘light’ and ‘mild’ with equally misleading synonyms. “We want the regulatory initiative to be improved, not abandoned,” said Louis Gauvin of the Coalition québécoise pour le contrôle du tabac. “The ‘light’ and ‘mild’ deception affects millions of smokers. In all probability, many thousands of Canadians have already died because this has been allowed to go on for far too long. Enough is enough!

For more information:

Neil Collishaw (613) 233-4878
Garfield Mahood (416) 451-4285
Louis Gauvin (514) 361-7046
Lyne Deschênes (613) 565-2522 ext. 304