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| Campaign for Tobacco Industry Denormalization: A letter to Health Minister Ujjal Donsanjh |
CAMPAIGN FOR
TOBACCO
INDUSTRY
DENORMALIZATION720 Spadina Avenue, Suite 221,
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 2T9
By
Courier
November 1,
2004
The Honourable Ujjal Dosanjh, P.C.,
M.P.
Minister of Health
Postal Locator
0916A
16th Floor, Brooke Claxton Building
Tunney’s
Pasture
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K9
Dear
Minister:
Re: Implementation of the public health strategy Tobacco
Industry Denormalization
We,
the undersigned, are writing to urge you and the government to accept
and implement the public health strategy known as tobacco industry
denormalization (TID). This was recommended to the Minister of Health
by the Ministerial Advisory Council on Tobacco Control more than two
years ago. This strategy was also the fourth key element in the
comprehensive “national” tobacco control plan created by the provinces,
the federal government and non-governmental organizations in
1999.
For
reasons unknown to us, your government has been reluctant to date to
implement this valuable strategy, even though it has been recommended
by your own Ministerial Advisory Council. Whatever the blocks, we are
asking you to take the steps necessary to clear the way for a
government-wide acceptance of the legitimacy of
this
approach.
Minister,
the tobacco epidemic has been described by a prestigious panel of
Canadian public health authorities, including some who have signed this
letter, as a “public health crisis.” Health Canada estimates that
tobacco industry products kill 47,000 Canadians
annually.
Epidemics
normally trigger extraordinarily aggressive responses from governments.
Unfortunately, and tragically, the tobacco industry has been protected
from such responses by a belief by some within government and by the
general public that the tobacco industry is a normal, legal industry
selling a normal, legal product, an industry entitled to be accepted
within the mainstream of normal business.
As the
materials
attached show, the tobacco industry has used such acceptance for
decades to block or undermine the implementation of the strong measures
that would normally be introduced to address an epidemic. The TID
strategy is designed to reverse the process that the industry has used
to legitimize the addiction of our youth and the maintenance of its
markets.
TID is a strategy that transfers the
responsibility for
the epidemic from individual behaviour (teen misjudgment) to corporate
misbehaviour where such responsibility properly belongs. It involves
nothing more than telling the truth about tobacco industry behaviour.
And, it should be stressed, there are no legal blocks
to
governments speaking the truth.
Minister,
we urge you to remove the blocks to TID. To not use a recommended
public health tool like TID will lead to more tobacco-caused deaths
than would otherwise occur. Under these circumstances, it would seem
grossly negligent for governments and health agencies not to implement
such a strategy.
We encourage you to meet with
leaders in the
national health community as soon as possible to discuss how this
strategy can be implemented, especially in national mass media
campaigns and other public education programmes. We look forward to
your response.
Yours sincerely,
(Original signatures on file)
Mary Jane
Ashley, MD, FRCPC
Chair, Expert Panel on the Renewal of the
Ontario Tobacco Strategy, and
Professor Emeritus of Public
Health
Faculty of Medicine
University of
Toronto
Warren Bell,
MD
President
Canadian Association of Physicians for
the Environment
June
Blau
President
Saskatchewan Coalition for Tobacco
Reduction
Jack Boomer
Provincial
Manager
Clean Air Coalition of BC
Marcel
Boulanger, MD, FRCPC
Président
Conseil québécois sur
le tabac et la santé
Robert Bourdeau, MD,
FRCSC
Medical Officer of Health
Eastern Ontario
Health Unit
Sally Brown
Chief Executive
Officer
Heart and Stroke Foundation of
Canada
Cynthia Callard
Executive
Director
Physicians for a Smoke-Free
Canada
Roy Cameron,
PhD
Director
Centre for Behavioural Research and
Program Evaluation
University of
Waterloo
Kevin Coady, BA, BEd,
MEd
Executive Director
Newfoundland and Labrador
Alliance for the Control of Tobacco
Joanna Cohen,
PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Public Health
Sciences
Faculty of Medicine
University of
Toronto
W. David Colby, MSc, MD,
FRCPC
Acting Medical Officer of Health
Chatham-Kent
Public Health Unit
Neil E.
Collishaw
Research Director
Physicians for a
Smoke-Free Canada
Robert Cushman, MD,
CCFP
Medical Officer of Health
Public Health and
Long-Term Care
City of Ottawa
Janet
Davies
Director of Public Policy
Canadian Nurses
Association
A. G. de la Rocha, MD, FRCSC,
FACS
Medical Officer of Health (A)
Porcupine Health
Unit
Pierre J. Durand, MD,
MSc
Dean
Faculty of Medicine
Laval
University
Robert G. Evans, OC, PhD,
FRSC
Professor (Economics)
University of British
Columbia
and
Institute Fellow
Canadian Institute for Advanced
Research
Roberta Ferrence,
PhD
Professor
Department of Public Health
Sciences
Faculty of Medicine
University of
Toronto
Geoffrey T. Fong, PhD
Associate
Professor
Department of Psychology
University of
Waterloo
Deirdre Freiheit
President and
Chief Executive Officer
Canadian Lung
Association
Brent T. Friesen, MD,
FRCPC
Medical Officer of Health
Calgary Regional
Health Authority
Charles E. Gardner, MD, CCFP,
MHSc, FRCPC
Medical Officer of Health and Chief Executive
Officer
Leeds, Grenville & Lanark District Health
Unit
Dr. Paul Garfinkel
President and Chief
Executive Officer
Centre for Addiction and Mental
Health
Louis
Gauvin
Coordonnateur
Coalition québécoise pour le
contrôle du tabac
Murray Gibson
Executive
Director
Manitoba Tobacco Reduction
Alliance
Les Hagen
Executive
Director
Action on Smoking and Health,
Alberta
Roger Hodkinson, MA, MB, BChir (Cantab),
FRCPC
Honorary Chairman
Action on Smoking and
Health, Alberta
Andrew
Jones
Director
Corporate and Government
Relations
Canadian Dental Association
Perry
Kendall, MBBS, MSc, FRCPC
Provincial Health
Officer
British Columbia Ministry of Health
Planning
Ken Kyle
Director, Public
Issues
Canadian Cancer Society
Victor
Lachance
Senior Leader
Sport Matters
Group
Susan Lee
Interim Executive
Director
Association of Local Public Health
Agencies
Garfield Mahood
Executive
Director
Non-Smokers’ Rights
Association
Verna Mai, MD, MHSc,
FRCP
Acting Vice President
Preventive Oncology
Cancer Care
Ontario
David McKeown, MDCM, MHSc,
FRCPC
Medical Officer of Health
City of
Toronto
Paul Melia
President and Chief
Executive Officer
Canadian Centre for Ethics in
Sport
James Fraser Mustard, CC, O.Ont., MD, PhD,
FRCPC, FRSC
Founding President
The Founders’
Network
Canadian Institute of Advanced
Research
Bob Nosal, MD, FRCPC
Medical
Officer of Health
Halton Region
Michael
Perley
Director
Ontario Campaign for Action on
Tobacco
Andrew Pipe, CM,
MD
Director
Prevention and Rehabilitation
Centre
University of Ottawa Heart
Institute
Richard W. Pollay, PhD
Professor
Emeritus, Marketing
Sauder School of
Business
University of British
Columbia
Marilyn Pope
Research
Coordinator
Social Prevention and Health Policy Research
Department
Centre for Addiction and Mental
Health
Michael Rachlis, MD, MSc,
FRCPC
Associate Professor
Department of Health Policy
Management and Evaluation
University of
Toronto
Pete
Sarsfield, MD, FRCPC
Medical Officer of Health and Chief
Executive Officer
Northwestern Health
Unit
Richard Schabas, MD, MHSc, FRCPC
Chief
of Staff
York Central Hospital
Dr. Howard
Shapiro
Acting Medical Officer of Health
Region of
Peel Public Health Unit
Richard S. Stanwick, MD,
MSc, FRCPC, FAAP
Chief Medical Health
Officer
Vancouver Island Health
Authority
Robert Strang MD, MHSc,
FRCPC
President
Coalition for a Smoke Free Nova
Scotia
Fernand Turcotte, MD, MPH,
FRCPC
Professeur titulaire
Département de médecine
sociale et préventive
Faculté de Médecine
Université
Laval
Bob Walsh
Executive
Director
Canadian Council for Tobacco
Control
Dr. Barbara Whylie
Executive
Director
Canadian Cancer Society and
National Cancer
Institute of Canada
Robin C. Williams, MD, DPH,
FRCPC
Medical Officer of Health
Regional Niagara
Public Health Department
Daniel
Veilleux
Directeur général
Sport étudiant de Québec
et de Chaudière-Appalaches
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According to the latest results from the Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS), for data collected between February and December 2005, slightly fewer than 5 million people, representing 19% of the population aged 15 years and older, were current smokers, of which 15% reported smoking daily. Approximately 22% of men were current smokers, higher than the proportion of women (16%). |
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