Changes to Tobacco Act sought to curb smoking
For every Quebecer who quits puffing cigarettes, another person — often a child — takes up habit
As Quebec Tobacco-Free Week kicked off Sunday, the Canadian Cancer Society said smoking is still the leading cause of illness and death in the province and the smoking rate has remained level at about 20 per cent since 2006, despite attempts to lower it.
That’s right, despite all the warnings and horrifying ads about what smoking can do to a person, for each smoker who quits or dies another person takes up smoking.
And although smoking kills about one person every hour in Quebec, there are still about 1.5 million people in the province puffing on cigarettes, according to a new report by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec.
The CCS also said the Tobacco Act hasn’t been updated in seven years and hasn’t prevented the tobacco industry from continuing to develop a wide range of new products.
“While we strive to eradicate this health scourge, the tobacco industry is working very hard to attract new customers, especially young people,” said Mélanie Champagne, manager of public issues for the Quebec division of the CCS.
“Still today, smoking kills more people than road accidents, AIDS, drug use, alcohol abuse, fire, homicide and suicide combined.”
The CCS has called on the government to modify the Tobacco Act by putting a freeze on tobacco marketing by implementing plain packaging for all tobacco products, abolishing flavours (such as menthol) for all tobacco products and banning slim cigarettes (which attract and trap girls in particular).
About 45,300 high school students in Quebec smoke cigarettes — and the figure would be higher if cigarillo use was taken into account. According to Quebec Tobacco-Free Week, smokers light up for the first time at an average age of 12.7 years.
It is time to bring the smoking rate down to 10 per cent from 21 per cent of the Quebec population — an objective that has been outlined by the Conseil québécois sur le tabac et la santé, and that it hopes to achieve over the next 12 years.
Quebec Tobacco-Free Week highlights the suffering caused by smoking every year. Actress Brigitte Lafleur, a spokesperson for the campaign, had a grandfather who died as a result of smoking and has first-hand experience of the impact it can have on a family. As a former smoker, she knows that quitting is possible and that support from loved ones is crucial to the smoker’s success.
Champagne said the annual impact of smoking on Quebec is $4 billion in direct and indirect costs, while tobacco taxes generate only $900 million for the government.
“We urgently need to strengthen the Tobacco Act through measures that target tobacco product pricing and promotion,” she said in a press release.
As this week’s anti-smoking campaign highlights, smoking is still the leading cause of avoidable death in Quebec.