News Release

2003-37
May 29, 2003
For immediate release

Minister of Health marks World No Tobacco Day with new funding for mass media projects

OTTAWA - The federal Minister of Health, Anne McLellan, today marked World No Tobacco Day by attending a special awards ceremony for over 400 Ottawa high school students who participated in a contest to develop tobacco control mass media projects.

In her remarks to the students, Minister McLellan announced that Health Canada will invest a further $2M in new mass media contribution funding this year. This funding builds on the approximately $5 million that was allocated in 2002-2003. Through these regional mass media initiatives, the Tobacco Control Programme supports the provinces and territories, as well as key national and regional non-governmental organizations in implementing mass media campaigns to support all aspects of the Federal Tobacco Control Strategy.

"Mass media campaigns are an important tool in the fight against smoking locally, nationally and globally," says Minister McLellan."Congratulations to these young people for their commitment to tobacco control and for their initiative and creativity. The anti-smoking story cannot be told often enough" she said.

Minister McLellan was accompanied to the event by Heather Crowe, an Ottawa waitress who is dying from lung cancer as a result of exposure to second-hand smoke in her workplace. In her remarks Minister McLellan called Heather Crowe "a tireless champion of the stop-smoking message," and announced that Heather has been recognized for her efforts with an award from the World Health Organization.

"Each year, 45,000 Canadians die prematurely," said Minister McLellan. "All because they smoked or were exposed to second hand smoke. However, we must also remember that 45,000 is much more than a number. It is mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters. Heather Crowe and Barb Tarbox are two of those faces who have become well known to us over the past year. We thank them for spending so much time and energy helping us to fight the tobacco epidemic."

Barb Tarbox spent much of the last few months of her life speaking to high school students about the dangers of tobacco. She lost her fight with smoking-related lung cancer and passed away on May 15, 2003. In honour of her death, and World No Tobacco Day, the province of Alberta, with funding support from Health Canada, has released an educational video featuring Barb Tarbox.

Health Canada has also released a special World No Tobacco Day video news release featuring Barb Tarbox and Heather Crowe (see below for details).

Starting tomorrow, movie goers across the country will also receive the Health Canada anti - tobacco message through a special World No Tobacco Day advertisement. Titled "Watch What You're Watching," the advertisements will appear in cinema-magazines and on pre-feature slides projected onto the screen. The advertisements warn about the subtle encouragement of tobacco use in films and fashion and entertainment avenues

For information on other World No Tobacco Day activities, please visit the Health Canada Web site at www.hc-sc.gc.ca.

For more information on help for quitting smoking, or on creating smoke-free environments in their lives, Canadians are invited to contact their family doctor or local health authority. Or, visit www.GoSmokeFree.ca or call 1-800 O-Canada (1-800-622-6232).

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Media Inquiries:
Carole Saindon
Health Canada
(613) 946-7242

Farah Mohamed
Office of Anne McLellan
Minister of Health
(613) 957-1694

Public Inquiries:
(613) 957-2991