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Steve Hartwell's (SmokersRightsCanada.org) letter is breathtaking in its duplicity. While he is right that industrial pollution is a problem, that hardly means that we should ignore all other problems. Indeed, the last provincial election saw all three parties promise to phase out coal-fired generators. Such a move will save hundred of lives each year. However, anyone who has ever set foot in a pub or bar in Ontario will tell you that the air quality in those spaces is far worse than anything you're likely to encounter outdoors. And there are any number of analysis that will list off dozens of poisons found in the smoke curling from the tips of cigarettes. Yet Mr. Hartwell tells us that these poisons that permeate our hair, skin and clothing have no affect on us. What sort of person would have so little regard for the health of others that they would knowingly expose them to toxins? Yet that is what Smokers Rights Canada is asking us support - their right, amongst others, to make exposure to hazardous substances a condition of employment for entertainment and hospitality industry workers. Fortunately most smokers are more considerate and better informed than Mr. Hartwell. They accept the fact that smoke kills. They avoid smoking near main entrances to buildings and while standing in lines. And they avoid smoking indoors at home when they have children and other non-smoking family members. Tobacco is one addiction that the government is trying to deal with in a rational fashion. Unlike other addictive drugs, tobacco is legal. The government is using the tax revenue from its sale to run treatment and harm reduction programs and public education campaigns to curb its use. It has also slowly implemented laws and by-laws restricting its use to areas where the public will not be harmed. These measures are already saving thousands of lives annually. Mr. Hartwell may not believe the government, but he and his group are the real ones spreading misinformation. For that he should be deeply ashamed. Gary Dale |