'Porn won't kill you'
2008-06-09 18:04
Toronto - You can browse the latest porn
magazines at Canadian shops but tough new laws mean that
cigarette packages are simply too suggestive.
Shop owners in Ontario, Quebec and a few other provinces
must now hide tobacco products from their customers under rules
that will cover most of Canada by year-end, as the country tries
to stamp out smoking by young people.
The provincial governments want to discourage the habit by
"de-normalising" the presence of cigarettes, which typically
enjoyed prime placement behind the cash register.
Retailers must store cigarettes in drawers or behind grey
wall coverings that cost as much as C$1 000, leaving
some fuming over the cost, inconvenience and hypocrisy.
'Double standard'
"It's a pain in the arse, and a double-standard that the
government supports liquor sales," said a Toronto shop owner
who did not want to be named but who noted children too young
to buy pornography were still free to eye the plastic-covered
magazines, which were only partly hidden by their shelving.
The law has its critics, including those who point
accusingly at Ontario's provincially owned liquor stores. But
advocates say the seemingly draconian measure would eventually
work and was too important to get bogged down by morality.
'Tobacco kills one in two users'
"Pornography, with all its faults and deficits, won't kill
you," said Michael Perley, director of the Ontario Campaign for
Action on Tobacco, an anti-smoking lobby group. "Tobacco
industry products kill one in two of their long-term users."
Perley's group, backed by national cancer and medical
associations, complains that the cigarette industry paid
retailers to display their colourful products in prominent
positions in retail stores.
Canadian retailers complain the law will confuse customers
and sellers, and stifle sales of their top product.
Blackened lungs and rotten teeth
But the provinces, which are responsible for managing
Canada's publicly funded healthcare system, say they are trying
to curb the country's number one cause of early death: cancer.
Canada's explicit health warnings on tobacco products,
including graphic images of blackened lungs and rotten teeth,
are already considered among the world's most direct.