Advisory Council on Tobacco Control Meeting, July 2001

1st Meeting of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Tobacco Control
July 30 - 31 2001 Canadian Museum of Civilization Hull, Québec

Introduction

The Ministerial Advisory Council (MAC) on Tobacco Control met for the first time on July 30 and 31, 2001. The purpose of the meeting was to:

• Initiate work on individual Council files and, in particular, Minister Rock's request for a recommendation on cigarette descriptors like ''Light and Mild".
• Initiate work on Council decision-making and operating procedures.
• Establish sub-committees to follow up on Council decision-making and operating procedures, and on individual files.
• Schedule the meetings of the MAC for the year to come.

1. Minister Rock's request on ''Light and Mild" cigarette descriptors

In order to answer adequately to Minister Rock's request for recommendations to ban light and mild cigarette descriptors, the MAC approved the proposal for an Expert Panel on ''Light and Mild" to be held on August 27-28 2001. Wording for the Expert Panel should support the concept of ''deception" rather than ''confusion".

A Sub-Committee on Light and Mild was established to follow up on the Expert Panel and to ensure the achievement of the September 8 deadline to provide Council advice on this file.

2. ''Light and Mild" Public Education Campaign

The MAC recommended that Health Canada's ''Light and Mild" campaign message be framed as one of ''deception" and not ''confusion".

Council members approved a letter to the Minister, drafted by the Sub-Committee on Light and Mild and reflecting the MAC's advice on Light and Mild. (Recommendation # 1 -- attached).

3. Sub-Committee on MAC Functioning

The Council approved the creation of a Sub-Committee on MAC Functioning that will develop a proposal for MAC decision-making and operating procedures, to be discussed at the next meeting. In the interim, the Council will deal with any urgent matters via teleconference, to be scheduled at the discretion of the Chair.

4. Sub-Committee on Mass Media and Denormalization

The MAC approved the creation of a Sub-Committee on Media Campaigns/Denormalization. This committee will quickly prepare a message to the Minister, to be circulated to Council members for review. This message will reflect the Council's recommendation that Denormalization be considered the bedrock upon which the upcoming media campaign should be built, as well as a core component of the Federal Tobacco Control Strategy.

5. Other priorities/sub-committees

Council members brainstormed a number of projects that might be undertaken by the MAC and developed criteria to guide their selection among several priority areas.

Criteria identified:

• Impact on health issues (death and disease).
• Fits with our mandate.
• Do-able: size, cost, sub-contract, cost-effective.
• Enhances other initiatives, organizations: synergy.
• Leverage is provided
• Timing: urgent things first.
• Window of opportunity.

MAC members approved a proposal for the creation of five sub-committees:

1. Tobacco Industry Sales and Youth Programs.
2. Economics and Taxation.
3. Cessation.
4. Tobacco Product Modification.
5. Mobilization.

6. Next meetings

• November 6-7 2001.
• Mach 4-5 2002.
• June 3-4 2002.

Attached:Recommendation #1

Meeting Participants

Ministerial Advisory Council

Mary Jane Ashley
Ted Boadway
Louis P. Brisson (Day 2)
Cynthia Callard
Roy Cameron
Burton Conrod
Reepa Evic-Carleton
José François
Bob Froese
Louis Gauvin, Chair
Les Hagen
Ken Kyle
Gilles Lépine
Garfield Mahood
Heidi Rathjen
Suzan Thompson

Regrets

Elinor Wilson

Health Canada

Dann M. Michols (Partial attendance)
Hélène Goulet
Debbie Blondell
Myriam Montrat
Joyce Aiston (Day 2, a.m.)
Technical Assistants: Ginette Lortie, Eric Leung

Non-Smokers Rights Association

Francis Thompson (Day 1, p.m.)

Meeting Facilitation and Report

Halina Gasewicz, Raymonde D'Amour

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Ministerial Advisory Council on Tobacco Control Comité consultatif ministériel sur la lutte contre le tabagisme

Recommendation # 1. - 01/08/03

August 3rd 2001

The Honourable Allan Rock
Minister of Health
Government of Canada
Brooke Claxton Building
Postal locator: 0916A
Ottawa ON K1A 0K9

RE: "Light" and "Mild" descriptors on cigarettes

Dear Mr Rock,

During his first meeting held in Hull july 30th and 31st, your Ministerial Advisory Council on Tobacco Control has had an opportunity to review Health Canada's draft with respect to a public education campaign on the issue of "light" and "mild" descriptors on cigarettes. We are concerned by some aspects of Health Canada's instructions to the Department's advertising agency, which in our opinion both misstate the nature of the "light" and "mild" problem and are likely to lead to an ineffective media campaign.

The primary purpose of a short campaign such as this one is to educate Canadians as to why the "light" and "mild" issue is a priority for government action. In our opinion, this cannot be achieved by telling Canadians that smokers of "light" cigarettes are 'confused' or 'uninformed'.

Rather, the campaign needs to focus on the unacceptable use of descriptors that incorrectly imply that some cigarettes are less hazardous than others.

Specifically, we offer the following advice:

1. That any messaging on the use of 'light' and 'mild' descriptors on cigarette packages attribute the harm to misleading and/or deceptive descriptors rather than to confusion on the part of consumers.

2. That the tone and manner of the campaign should be guided by the following statement: "Messaging should focus on both smokers and non-smokers being deceived or misled, and not suggest or imply any responsibility of individuals to understand confusing messages and information about 'light' and 'mild' cigarettes".

We remain at your disposal for any further information.

Yours,

Louis Gauvin
Chair

cc. Dann Michols
Hélène Goulet
Members of the MAC