FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, May 26, 2017
Perth County ̶ World No Tobacco Day is May 31st. The Perth District Health Unit’s THINK team is joining youth across the province to be the #generationofchange to prevent a new generation of smokers.
Cigarette packs are one of the last ways the industry can legally market their products in Canada, says THINK team member Rachel Klaver. “Packs are like mini walking billboards for Big Tobacco. They are designed to appeal to specific genders, downplay health warnings and make smoking more appealing to youth”.
THINK and Freeze the Industry, a youth-led coalition, is calling for plain and standardized packaging. This type of packaging would prohibit all promotional features on tobacco packages, including colours, images, logos, slogans, distinctive fonts, and finishes. Only the brand name and graphic health warnings would be permitted.
“The tobacco industry is spending a lot of time and money trying to convince the public that plain and standardized packaging won’t work”, says THINK team member Nicki Van Bakel. “However, several countries across the world have adopted plain and standardized tobacco packaging and research shows it helps discourage youth from starting and encourages more people to quit”.
In preparation for World No Tobacco Day, THINK has been recruiting supporters to participate in a Thunderclap (a platform that amplifies social media messages by allowing large groups of people to share a single message together at the same time).
“We’re joining together with supporters across the province to tell the Tobacco Industry, enough is enough”, says Van Bakel. “We’re not okay with 100 Canadians dying each and every day as a result of being hooked by Big Tobacco”.
The Plain.Simple.Standard Thunderclap will go out on May 31st at 12:00pm.
For more information:
• Visit Freeze the Industry at www.freezetheindustry.ca
• Follow @THINKPerth on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
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Media Contact: Chera Longston, Communications Manager
519-271-7600 ext 279 or clongston@pdhu.on.ca