Brought
to you by GLOBALink - The International Tobacco-Control Network
N.S. med
group urges inside smoke ban
Gov't has power to prevent further unnecessary deaths due to
tobacco
/ VOLUME 38, NO. 11, March 19, 2002
by Ann Graham Walker
Source: Medical Post, 2002-03-19, via tobacco.org
Region: CANADA
Category: Smoking Bans
URL:
http://www.medicalpost.com/mdlink/english/
members/medpost/data/3811/57A.HTM
HALIFAX - The Nova Scotia Medical Society is lobbying
for legislation to ban smoking in indoor public places across
the province.
Society
president Dr. Bruce Wright published a letter in newspapers
urging political leaders to stand up for a complete ban, calling
anything short of that unacceptable.
"We
desperately need our political leaders to take a firm stance
to protect the health of Nova Scotians and to prevent any further
unnecessary deaths," the letter stated. "Our government
and political leaders have the power to do so."
The letter
continued with critical recent information: "According
to the results of a Corporate Research Associates poll (conducted
Jan. 28 to 30) protection from the dangers of tobacco smoke
is just what residents are asking for. The poll showed a 24%
increase in the number of people supporting a total ban of smoking
in indoor public places. There is little or no need for further
talk."
Dr. Wright
said this is a good time to launch an aggressive no smoking
campaign. The Halifax Regional Municipality has been talking
about a ban on smoking in public places for a couple of years,
but has balked at following through (largely because of opposition
from the food and beverage industry). Now public momentum seems
to be more solidly behind the idea of a complete ban, he said.
Only one
Nova Scotia municipality, Cape Breton, has passed legislation
banning smoking in public places. Cape Breton has some of the
highest rates of smoking, and particularly adolescent smoking,
in Canada. Physicians played a lead role in getting that legislation
passed, lobbying patients and making eloquent presentations
at city hall.
Dr. Wright
said he would like to see similar initiatives right across the
province. He said the medical society has made a strong commitment
to reducing smoking, with campaigns in doctors' offices and
political initiatives (for example, the medical society has
gone on record urging government to increase taxes on cigarettes).
Earlier this year, the medical society partnered with Sport
Nova Scotia in a campaign that uses Nova Scotia Olympic athletes
to deliver the no-smoking message to young people.
As a pathologist,
Dr. Wright said he gets daily reminders of what smoking does
to people's bodies.
"It's
not pretty, what you see very graphically in the lungs."
He said
he spends part of his time going to schools and talking to students,
particularly sixth graders-a group the medical society has targeted
because research suggests that is the age when many children
begin to smoke.
"One
little girl in sixth grade asked me a memorable question which
I'm afraid I couldn't answer. She said, 'Dr. Wright, if it's
so terrible, why is it still legal?' "
