Health Canada issues graphic warnings on smokes
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jan 05/01) - The stark black and white health warnings that have been carried on cigarette packages are now being complemented with graphic photos of the harm smoking can cause.
"That's pretty gross," said 18-year-old smoker Stacey Savas when shown a pack featuring a mouth plagued with disease. "I couldn't carry that around."
A federal measure opposed vigorously by tobacco companies, packages and carton covers are now half covered with photos of the brains of stroke victims, diseased gums, overflowing ashtrays and a wilted cigarette symbolizing impotence.
The packages started appearing on the shelves of Yellowknife tobacco sellers last week.
"I think, personally, it's a positive step," said NWT chief medical health officer Dr. Andre Corriveau. "It's certainly not the total answer."
Corriveau said territorial health and social services officials saw samples of the packaging a year ago. He said it will likely be viewed as an annoyance, an unwelcome reminder of the effects of smoking, by long-time tobacco addicts. Youth, he said, are the main target of the graphic packaging.
If Savas and her friend April Alexander are any indication, the change will be an effective way of preventing young people from lighting up and convincing new smokers to quit.
"It looks pretty rancid, but I think it's a pretty good idea," said Alexander, also 18 and, like Savas, a smoker. "I won't buy smokes with that on them."
Alexander said smokers who complain about the graphic illustration are just fooling themselves -- "If you're afraid to see what you're doing to your body, there's something wrong."
The first comprehensive statistical report on smoking in the NWT (as opposed to Nunavut and the NWT) will likely be released when the legislative assembly resumes sitting next month.
"It really highlights the magnitude of the problem, particularly in aboriginal youth, where we've lost a lot of ground in the last decade or so," said Corriveau.
The report shows the smoking rate in Yellowknife is the lowest in the territories. Smoking is most popular in Beaufort Delta communities.
According to a 1999 Labour Force Survey, 41 per cent of people 15 and over smoke regularly. The national average is 28 per cent.
Slightly more than 40 per cent of NWT residents aged 15-24 smoke. The highest rate of smoking, 44 per cent, occurs among those aged 25-39.
Corriveau said the territorial government will be cranking up its efforts to reduce smoking, starting with Jan. 15-22 national Non-Smoking Week, when a series of television commercials aimed at young people will be airing.
A draft five-year strategy aimed at reducing smoking in the North will be submitted for cabinet consideration in February.
