Canadian campaign to ban "chew" tobacco

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  • darkwing
    Member
    • Oct 2007
    • 415

    Canadian campaign to ban "chew" tobacco

    Here we go:

    MPP lobbied for ban on chew tobacco

    By Francis Baker
    February 26th, 2008

    Local MPP Ted Arnott receives a postcard petition from Wellington Dufferin Guelph Health Unit youth peer leaders last week.
    News Express/Francis Baker

    Hundreds of people in Centre Wellington have signed a postcard petition calling on the province to ban the sale of “chew and spit” tobacco products.
    Last week, a group of youth peer leaders with the local office of the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Health Unit presented the 357 postcards to local MPP Ted Arnott as part of a province-wide lobby. Another 300 cards signed by Palmerston and Mount Forest area residents are going to Perth Wellington MPP John Wilkinson.
    “We want to ban the sale of chew tobacco in Ontario,” said Ryan Martin as the petition was presented. “The tobacco industry markets these products to seem harmless, because there’s no smoke.”
    Chew tobacco products with flavours like cherry are being specifically marketed to youth, in magazines and entertainment newspapers directed at young people, he said.
    Last week, youth leaders from health units across the province were presenting thousands of signed postcards to provincial members of parliament as part of the lobby.
    Jenni Jenkins, a youth advisor with the local health unit, says young people have noticed an increasing trend in smokeless tobacco use by young people, especially among male sports team members.
    The products have a lot more nicotine than cigarettes and can be more addictive, she said. “One chew that would last for 30 minutes has the same nicotine as four cigarettes — and most people wouldn’t smoke four cigarettes in half an hour.”
    The petition postcards point out that chew and spit tobacco products have no safe level of use, and have been shown to cause oral cancer, heart disease and gum disease.
    Candy flavours and product placement in youth-oriented media show the industry is creating and marketing the products directly at young people, the cards state.
    MPP Arnott thanked the group for their efforts and accepted the stacks of postcards, which he said he’ll forward to health minister George Smitherman when he’s back at Queen’s Park.
    “I’ve always taken petitions very very seriously as an expression of political belief,” Arnott said, and outlined how they can be presented or read into the legislature.
    He said he was certain the health ministry would be in favour of discouraging any kind of tobacco use among young people, and is taking steps to try and discourage young people from smoking.
    “Clearly I think more has to be done at the provincial and federal level that would limit this kind of marketing strategy,” he said. The health unit’s youth leaders help young people become more aware of advertising and marketing so they can make educated choices about their health, Jenkins said.
    A June 2007 Supreme Court of Canada decision ruled limits on tobacco advertising laid down in the 1997 Tobacco Act violated freedom of expression — but added they were a valid limit on commercial speech rights because of a need to protect public health. Tobacco companies said the decision gave them a small opportunity to resume advertising to adults, but said new advertising would be limited.
    The court ruling left restrictions banning ads appealing to young people or that make smoking look glamorous, exciting, or daring. Jenkins said there hasn’t been a large-scale advertising campaign for tobacco products, but she’s noticed smokeless tobacco product advertising in what she calls youth-oriented magazines and other media
  • Soft Morning, City!
    Member
    • Sep 2007
    • 772

    #2
    *Sigh.* The idiocy continues...

    Comment

    • TropicalBob
      Member
      • Feb 2008
      • 316

      #3
      Lordy, lordy.

      Not long ago, I read of a petition sent our FDA by a group of ELEMENTARY school students. Their teacher told them smoking a cigar was equal to smoking five packs of cigarettes. And cigars aren't taxed like cigarettes, so the petitioners favored a hefty tax increase.

      Five packs of cigarettes? And a teacher taught them this! She must have forgotten that cigars are puffed and cigarettes are inhaled and the health risks of the two smoking products are vastly different. Guess she forgot to mention that.

      We are letting the uninformed propagandize the public and our kids. Just start a group, call it Tobacco Is Bad for Every Body, and issue some press releases full of inaccurate statements. They'll be published. They'll become part of the "record".

      Enjoy today. I love that tattoo in Chinese posted elsewhere on this forum. Live for today. I doubt we're going to like tomorrow.

      Comment

      • mwood72

        #4
        I remember signing something in my early school years saying that I wouldn't cross swords with the evil Mr Nick O Tine and in return I got some poster showing Superman beating Mr Nick O Tine up. I think I might still have it somewhere. Guess I should give it back now that I'm friends with Mr Nic O Tine rather than Superman

        Comment

        • TropicalBob
          Member
          • Feb 2008
          • 316

          #5
          Heck no, don't give it back. That's a collectible of the first rank. You could sell it on eBay.

          I remember poor Mr. Potatohead from my childhood. Fella smoked a pipe, as did Santa Claus and Frosty the Snowman. Then, in 1987, Mr. Potatohead kicked his nic habit, put on running shoes and became the poster child for the American Cancer Society. C. Everett Koop smiled. I did not.

          This past Christmas, I sought a pipe-smoking Santa and Frosty. It was an interesting search. I only found OLD ones at thrift stores. And I only found (and bought) three figurines with bent pipes in place. They are history.

          It says a lot about where this is all heading.

          Comment

          • Soft Morning, City!
            Member
            • Sep 2007
            • 772

            #6
            That's very sad. I've always associated Christmas and Santa and gnomes and all of that mythology with pipe-smoking, with tobacco in general. That is as it should be, dammit. There's nothing wrong with smoking a pipe. You're not going to die because you smoke a pipe a few time a week, or even once or twice a day. This fear of tobacco is completely out of control.

            Comment

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