Ontario, Canada - medical association tobacco position paper..

April 22, 2010 - Ontario Medical Association (OMA) - Position Paper: Tobacco, Illness, and the Physician’s Perspective. Ont Med Rev 2010, Apr: 17-25 (ISBN: 0-919047-80-7), FULL TEXT..

The OMA report said the province needs to do more to help smokers quit. Ontario tobacco use accounts for 85 percent of lung cancers, 30 percent of cancer deaths and 13,000 deaths a year. The doctors' group said there are 2.3 million smokers in Ontario, compared with 2.1 million in 1966.

Ontario, Canada - smoking-related illnesses have increased by almost two-thirds in the last decade..

After taking into account growth in the province's population, from 6.7 million in 1966 to more than 12 million now, the proportion of the population smoking is much smaller, but the overall number of smokers remains high, the group said.

"It's unfortunate, but the simple fact is there are still far too many people who smoke and who suffer from preventable tobacco-induced illness, and it is having a significant impact on our health-care system," OMA president Dr. Suzanne Strasberg said in a release.

The doctors' group urged the province to:
* Create a comprehensive smoking-cessation system across the province for people who want to quit, including no-cost medication, counselling and group therapy.
* Drastically reduce the thousands of retail tobacco outlets across Ontario.
* Place a moratorium on the sale of new tobacco products.
* Control contraband tobacco products, imposing sanctions against suppliers of raw materials to unlicensed manufacturers and on people in possession of contraband.

"Tobacco control in Ontario today has two faces," the report's authors concluded.
"One is characterized by smoke-free spaces, retail and marketing controls, youth-focused initiatives, and some progress on smoking cessation.
The other face of the tobacco scourge shows itself in proliferating supplies of contraband (illicit, illegal, smuggled) product, increasing numbers of both new combustible and smokeless products, continuing struggles of those addicted to find help breaking their addiction, and widespread and easy retail access to 'legal' products." The report noted that one-fifth of the cigarettes smoked in Ontario last year were estimated to be contraband.

Reference: Expand quit-smoking efforts, OMA urges Tobacco kills 13,000 annually in Ontario, MDs say, CBC News, 4/20/2010.

Ontario - some province realted news briefs:
Ontario - don't cut provincial tobacco taxes to try to reduce contraband tobacco traffic..;
Canada - nearly one in five packs of cigarettes smoked by Canadian teen smokers are contraband products..;
Ontario, Canada - illegal cigarettes are everywhere..;
Ontario Businessmen - want government to crack down on illegal cigarettes..;
Imperial Tobacco Canada - slow illegal cigarettes/sue tobacco companies..;
As tobacco prices rise - increase in illegal cigarette trafficing..; Canada - Obama visit - help STOP cigarette smuggling from U.S..;
Canada economic recession losing billions in unpaid tobacco taxes..;
Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco (OCAT) - news release..;
Ontario wants to sue tobacco companies over healthcare costs..;
Ontario law banning smoking in cars with children takes effect..;
Congratulations to the Canadian Provinces of Quebec and Ontario for Eliminating the Display of Tobacco Signs and Tobacco Products in Retail Outlets..;
Ontario to outlaw candy flavored cigars..;