Canada To Have New Tobacco Warnings (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Canada To Have New Tobacco Warnings
Source: AP, Monday, 11/22/99
Monday November 22 11:02 PM ET 

OTTAWA (AP) - Canada's tobacco industry has deceived the public about its
research on smoking, prompting the government to consider tougher
anti-smoking measures, Health Minister Allan Rock said Monday.

Rock referred to 1,200 pages of industry documents made public by his
department Monday, most from British American Tobacco, the parent company
of Canada's Imperial Tobacco Ltd.

``It shows the things being said by their highly paid lobbyists and
spokespeople have not been right, that the tobacco industry is prepared to
say one thing in their boardrooms and back rooms and something else out
front on the street,'' Rock said.

Michel Descoteaux, spokesman for Imperial Tobacco, called allegations that
the company targeted young smokers or spiked cigarettes with higher levels
of nicotine ``an effort to demonize the tobacco industry in Canada.''

Rock said the federal government will introduce new warning requirements
for cigarette packaging and step up an anti-smoking advertising campaign.

But Rock ruled out federal lawsuits or legal moves similar to the
multibillion dollar settlement in the United States with U.S. tobacco
companies, leaving such challenges to provincial governments faced with
smoking-related health care costs.