Anti-smoking campaign cost questioned

National Post ^ | 2003-05-12 | Mark Kennedy

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OTTAWA -- Canada's largest tobacco company is questioning whether the millions of dollars allocated by the federal government on anti-smoking measures would be better spent battling other diseases such as breast cancer, AIDS and diabetes.

The provocative message is posted by Imperial Tobacco Canada on its Web site in a bid to kickstart a public discussion.

The Montreal-based company says it has serious questions about whether Health Canada's $480-million, five-year Tobacco Control Strategy -- which funds everything from hard-edged TV ads to smoking cessation programs -- is producing "sound policies."

But a spokesman for a leading anti-tobacco group says Imperial is adopting a "divide and conquer" strategy so that disease-ridden Canadians will lobby the government to spend more on their affliction, and less on anti-smoking measures.

In its Web site posting, described as a "dialogue," Imperial asks:

? How much money is being given to a "well-financed anti-tobacco lobby";

? Whether the government only cares about non-smokers and ignores those "who choose to legally use legal products";

? How the government reconciles its "policies and attitudes towards smokers" with the fact that it depends on billions of dollars in tax revenues from cigarette sales.

"There is always more than one side to every story," says Imperial. "Opinions should be shared. And policies should be questioned. Or has political correctness these days gone so far that no one dare ask," says the company's Web posting.

"The absence of any real analysis or probing questions is surprising. How can any government spend $480 million on anything and not be required to justify it in the face of scrutiny -- if not from the political opposition, then at least from the media? Perhaps political correctness demands one can only criticize the funding as too little. In fact, $480 million is a lot of money."

Imperial lists examples of other health-related initiatives that $480 million could finance. It says the money would cover fees for 2,709 family doctors for a year, and pay for flu shots for almost every Canadian for two years.

As well, the company does some comparative calculations, saying that $480 million is 32 times the amount of money that Health Minister Anne McLellan dedicated last fall to researching obesity, more than four times the federal fund to combat diabetes, almost 40 times Health Canada's five-year funding for hepatitis C research, more than 14 times the Canadian Breast Cancer Initiative's five-year funding program, and more than double the annual funding for the Canadian Strategy on AIDS/HIV.

Neil Collishaw, research director at Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, said the Imperial Web posting is outrageous and Canadians should not be fooled by it.

"It is entirely unethical. If you're going to set yourself up to give public health advice or advice on how money should be spent on which priorities, how about cleaning up your own house first? And the house of tobacco is a pretty dirty one."

Collishaw said he believes the company is frightened at how recent federal anti-smoking initiatives have helped reduce the smoking rate. (In 1996, 29 per cent of Canadians 15 and older smoked; today, it's down to 21 per cent.)

"It's certainly divide and conquer," said Collishaw. "It's doing what their mission statement says -- to improve the social acceptability of smoking."

Christina Dona, manager of media relations at Imperial, said the posting is designed to prompt public discussion about whether there is sufficient "accountability" for the millions in taxpayers' dollars spent by Health Canada on tobacco control. She said the company is merely raising questions about the allocation of funds, saying the purpose of showing how else the $480 million could be spent was to provide a "yardstick" on how much money is involved.

Federal officials defended the tobacco control program as a success.

Farah Mohamed, director of communications for Anne McLellan, said the government is committed to a program that warns people of the dangers of smoking, helps prevent stores from selling tobacco to minors and encourages smokers to quit the habit.

"Tobacco is the leading cause of death and disease in Canada," she said, noting it kills an estimated 45,000 Canadians annually. "Think about that for one second."

"No one for a moment should think that the tobacco companies are going to agree with the methods of Health Canada. And I think we'd be naive to suggest that they would. Our goal is to encourage people not to smoke. Their goal is to sell a product."

Mohamed denied the tobacco control program lacks accountability and defended the payment of funds to anti-tobacco groups. She said the department provides a total of $8 million annually to more than 50 groups -- ranging from the Canadian Cancer Society to the Canadian Public Health Association -- to help spread the word about the dangers of smoking.

Collishaw said his group, Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, is among those that get government funds and he said it's a "fine use of public money."

"It's hard for me to say that in a way that doesn't exude some self interest. But just think about it. I don't have a product to sell to people that I can make a profit on. We're a charitable organization and a public interest organization. And that's what turns our crank. It isn't making more money to drive a bigger Mercedes."