Canada is lagging far behind other countries in preventing youth smoking, a Nova Scotia pediatrician says. Dr. Andrew Lynk notes that 29% of his province's teens smoke, while the comparable rate in California is only 7%. “We're way behind the eight ball,” says Lynk.
He says Canada spends only 67 cents per capita on smoking prevention, a fraction of the amount that some American states invest (see CMAJ 2001; 164[6]:855). Shortly after Lynk made the comments to CMAJ, Ottawa announced $422 million in new funding for antitobacco initiatives, to be spent over 5 years. The main goals are to reduce the proportion of people who smoke to 20% from 25%, and to reduce cigarette sales by 30%. Despite the new spending, the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) is urging physicians to back the Tobacco Youth Protection Act, which would impose a 19-cent levy on each pack of cigarettes and raise an estimated $360 million annually — $12 per capita — for programs to reduce youth tobacco use. Ottawa collects $2.4 billion in tobacco taxes annually but until this year has invested only $20 million of that in antismoking campaigns. The CPS wants physicians to “vigorously” lobby politicians to adopt the act (www.cps.ca). “We must persist until we see unequivocal action,” says Lynk.
The act, crafted by Senators Colin Kenny and Pierre Claude Nolin, is now being considered by the Senate and may be presented to Parliament later this year. If the bill passes, the levy will be administered by an arm's-length foundation. Kenny insists that his act would direct much more money at antismoking efforts than Ottawa plans to spend. “The government believes it can shadowbox with this problem,” adds Kenny, “but a knockout punch is needed.”
A similar bill was presented to the Commons in 1998 but was struck down on a technicality, which has now been eliminated. “The impact of these programs will be on par with that of vaccinations, clean water and seat belts,” Lynk told CMAJ.
Signature
Barbara Sibbald
CMAJ
Figure. Time to target young smokers? Photo by: Canapress