Thank you.
According to the WHO, tobacco use is a pandemic that is unequalled in history. Last century, the use of tobacco killed 100 million people. In the 21st century, it will kill 1 billion people unless we end this epidemic. It will not be an easy task. We need an ongoing series of measures to restrict tobacco use, such as those found in Bill C-32. Taken together, these measures are proving to be very effective to reduce the use of tobacco.
We applaud this bill, and we have only one improvement to suggest to you. We suggest that the ban on the use of flavourings be expanded to include smokeless tobacco like this product here. You can find a draft amendment that would do so in your information kits.
Why are we making this suggestion? Here a few reasons provided by two dental surgeons from Northern Ontario, Dr. Pynn and Dr. Dowhos of Thunder Bay, in their letter to the committee. Here is the quote:
More than fifty percent of our patients are of Aboriginal origin with the majority of this population using tobacco products. ... Tobacco has no boundaries when it comes to its effects on the oral cavity.
Dental decay and gum disease caused by tobacco usage, including smokeless tobacco (also called chew and spit), are leading reasons why we are so busy with tooth extractions. Not only are we extracting single or multiple teeth, but we also regularly have the unfortunate task of performing full mouth clearances of all 32 teeth because of tooth rot from poor oral hygiene and decay.
Prolonged usage of products such as smokeless tobacco can also cause life-threatening oral cancers. Oral cancer can have a horrific and disfiguring consequence, as the majority of the surgical interventions for its treatment require parts of the jaw to be completely removed.
Our youth do not recognize that the instant pleasure they may receive from chewing smokeless tobacco can have devastating effects later, thus we also need to ban the use of flavourings to smokeless tobacco products before it is too late.
In a few minutes my colleague from Dryden, Ontario, Mr. Sam McKibbon, will explain just exactly how he and many of his friends in northwestern Ontario and many other places in northern and western Canada are being seduced by the lure of flavoured, smokeless tobacco.
Mr. McKibbon was one of the creators of the “Flavour...GONE!” campaign. Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada are proud to have provided more both moral and financial support to this campaign, and we are proud to have Mr. McKibbon here speaking on our behalf today.
Before I turn it over to him, I still have one important duty to fulfil. I would like to thank all of you. For 18 months, we have been asking parliamentarians to amend the act in order to protect our youth from the tobacco companies' tricks, in particular adding all kinds of tempting flavours to encourage our kids to start using tobacco. The fact that Parliament has introduced not one but two bills to deal with this problem bears witness to the serious attention that our elected officials have given to this issue.
We are particularly grateful to Ms. Judy Wasylycia-Leis and her staff for the introduction of private members' bills in two successive parliaments to draw attention to this issue and for the strong support shown by her and her staff to the “Flavour...GONE!” campaign. We are similarly grateful to the Hon. Leona Aglukkaq and her staff for the initiative shown to bring forward Bill C-32 as a government bill and the parliamentary craft involved in shepherding it through all stages of consideration.
We are also grateful for her initiative in seeking the support of Ms. Judy Wasylycia-Leis and to the latter for so graciously offering such support.