By PAPHR

World Tobacco Day Campaigns

May 21, 2014 | 9:13 AM

SASK. HEALTH GROUPS PROMOTE ‘FLAVOURED TOBACCO BAN’ AND ‘SMOKE-FREE OUTDOOR SPACES’ ON WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY 2014

The World Health Organization’s theme for World No Tobacco Day 2014 is ‘raising taxes on tobacco’.

Every year, on 31 May, WHO and partners mark World No Tobacco Day, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. Tobacco kills nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 600 000 are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke. For World No Tobacco Day 2014, we are calling on countries to raise taxes on tobacco.

WHO’s striking poster for WNT Day is above. Currently, our province’s tobacco tax is strong but Saskatchewan youth smoking rates have been the highest in the country for ten years. Twenty per cent of Saskatchewan youth aged 15 to 19 years of age smoke, compared to 11% nationally. (Source: Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey 2012) Although smoking rates in our province continue to fall, it is clear that more tobacco reduction measures are necessary.

For World No Tobacco Day 2014, Saskatchewan health groups have decided to highlight two recommended measures, in particular:

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• a ban on flavoured tobacco products
• smoke-free areas in outdoor spaces where people congregate or children are at risk such as playgrounds, public events, sports events and patios.