Jump to full article: Canadian Press, 2007-09-28
Intro: Outraged medical experts say Health Canada's participation at a U.S. tobacco conference this week lends credibility to an industry that's been slammed for racketeering and fraud.
They accuse the federal government of hob-nobbing and sharing research with a sector that last year was found by a U.S. judge to have deceptively chased profits for decades without regard for related suffering and death.
This, as several provinces have launched or are paving the way for similar legal action.
"The industry lied about addiction, lied about the risks of its products, lied about lite and mild cigarettes, lied about marketing to children," said Garfield Mahood, executive director of the Non-Smokers' Rights Association.
"And the various conferences that the industry sponsored over the years were judged to be part of the racketeering and fraud."
He is among 44 doctors, nurses and health advocates who signed an open letter to Health Minister Tony Clement demanding answers. . . .
Adding insult to injury, says the letter, is the fact that several Health Canada officials have pulled out of a national conference starting Sunday in Edmonton on how to reduce smoking.
. . .
Seven Health Canada officials went to the Tobacco Science Research Conference in Charlotte, N.C., presenting findings on such topics as "Nicotine Trends in Canadian cigarettes from 1968-2005."
"Our scientists have been attending this conference for the past 10 years," Smith said.
Officials will continue to go to such events, she said, despite the damning findings of fact made against American tobacco giants last year. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler pounded the industry in a case brought by the Department of Justice.
"This is a science-based ministry," Smith said. "People here don't respond to judges who may say: 'Racketeering, non-racketeering.'
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Quotes from this article:
This is a science-based ministry. People here don't respond to judges who may say: 'Racketeering, non-racketeering.'
Rita Smith, a spokeswoman for Canadian Health Minister Tony Clement, on Health Canada's attendance at tobacco-sponsored conferences in light of Federal Judge Kessler's decision in the 2005 DOJ RICO lawsuit.
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