Health Advocates Applaud New Tobacco Legislation
First printed in JCDA • November 2009, Vol. 75, No. 9, 625

Bill C-32, also known as the Cracking Down on Tobacco Marketing Aimed at Youth Act, received royal assent in the Senate on October 8, making it an official act of parliament. CDA and its partners in the Canadian Coalition for Action on Tobacco (CCAT) strongly lobbied members of Parliament, senators and the Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq, for the passage of this important piece of legislation that prohibits all flavourings and additives (except menthol) in cigarettes, cigarillos (little cigars) and blunt wraps (tobacco rolling papers).

Over the past few years, the popularity of little cigars and flavoured tobacco has increased disproportionately compared to other tobacco products, particularly among young smokers. Health Canada surveys1 show that 31% of high school-aged Canadians (between age 15-19) have used these products.

This bill is crucial from a public health perspective, because it protects youth from these addictive, candy flavoured poisonous tobacco products that are designed to taste better and be easier to smoke, which creates a dependency on cigarettes more quickly. From an oral health perspective, Canadian dentists treat the harmful consequences of tobacco use every day and do not want to see a new generation exposed to the avoidable risk of serious illness and death. The new law reinforces the importance of fighting against tobacco companies that try to attract a younger demographic to smoking.

The origin of Bill C-32 stems from an announcement made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper during the 2008 federal election campaign. It was then approved by the House of Commons in June 2009, with unanimous party support. While Bill C-32 comes into force in June 2010, the legislation prohibiting tobacco advertising in newspapers and magazines will be effective immediately. The new bill removes a previous exception that allowed advertising in these mediums if adult readership was at least 85%.

CCAT is a coalition of national and provincial health agencies that work together to reduce the consequences of tobacco use in Canada and around the world. CDA is a full-voting member of CCAT and was chair of the coalition’s Advocacy Committee in 2008. CCAT will continue working on strategies to make it more difficult to smoke in Canada. One of the next challenges will be promoting plain or standardized packaging. Most cigarettes are currently sold in attractive, glossy “slim” packages, making it difficult to read Health Canada’s health warnings.

Reference

1. Health Canada. Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS) 2008: Summary of annual results for 2008. Available: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hc-ps/tobac-tabac/research-recherche/stat/_ctums-esutc_2008/ann_summary-sommaire-eng.php (accessed October 15, 2009).

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