Journey for a Tobacco-Free World

Click here to view a news story by Dan Kahan of Shaw Community Television about the first day of the Journey for a Tobacco Free World.

Thanks to Joan O’Connor for making this available.

On May 31, 2010 – the World Health Organization’s 23^rd annual World No Tobacco Day – 30-year anti-tobacco activist Errol E. Povah and his Support Crew will embark on the world’s first JOURNEY for a TOBACCO-FREE WORLD, a 6,300 kilometre “run, walk or crawl, from Victoria to Montreal.” Time, energy and resources permitting, the Journey will then head south to New York City; those two destination cities being chosen specifically because they are home to the head offices of Canadian and American tobacco companies, where large anti-tobacco protests will be held to coincide with the JTFW’s arrival. At the rate of
42 km per day, 6 days a week, the Journey is expected to take about 6 months.

The purpose of the JTFW: To raise awareness about largely-forgotten, replaced-by-obesity-etc. tobacco, the tobacco industry and the anti-tobacco movement, as well as to raise funds to ‘ramp up’ the War on Tobacco. Note: A total of 30% of the funds raised will be divided equally among BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, Variety the Children’s Charity and Toronto’s SickKids Hospital Foundation.

“Globally, society is losing the war on tobacco, big time. Forty-six years after the first U.S. Surgeon-General’s Report on the hazards of smoking, one would expect the death toll to be dropping, fast…and nearing zero. But tobacco continues to be the leading – and most easily and cheaply preventable — cause of disease, disability and premature death in Western society,” Povah said. Continue Reading »

Tags: press release

The JOURNEY for a TOBACCO-FREE WORLD goes in one week! If you are interested in joining us at Mile Zero in Victoria on Monday, May 31, that would be awesome! The launch is at 10:00 a.m. so, technically, you could catch the 7:00 a.m. ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay Monday morning and be at Mile Zero in lots of time (I’m not very familiar with ‘local’ bus service, but if you catch the bus that is on the ferry, I know that it will get you to the downtown bus depot [by about 9:00 a.m.], which is very close to the Empress Hotel, Parliament Buildings, etc. From there, Mile Zero is about 1.3 km south, on Douglas St… a 15 or 20 minute walk.)

Alternatively, you can come out and cheer us on as we pass through the Lower Mainland area on Thursday and Friday, June 3 and 4.

Click here to view it.

You can also view it at YouTube by clicking here.

Airspace Action on Smoking and Health – Canada’s leading all-volunteer anti-tobacco organization – would like to offer you and/or your company/organization an opportunity to be part of what will, undoubtedly, be the one of the biggest single developments ever, in terms of improving global health and reducing burgeoning health-care costs.

Specifically, we’re referring to the Journey for a Tobacco-Free World (JTFW):

HEAR — AND HEED — THE CALL!
FROM SPRING TO FALL,
IT’S THE ANTI-TOBACCO RUN WALK OR CRAWL…
FROM VICTORIA TO MONTREAL!

This unique and precedent-setting project will commence on May 31, 2010 (the World Health Organization’s 23rd annual WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY), when Airspace president Errol Povah and his support crew will embark on the JTFW.

Airspace’s record speaks for itself.  Most notably, Airspace played a critical role in the development, implementation and enforcement of the landmark WCB (now Safework BC) No Smoking regulation.  After a frustrating year or two of unsuccessful lobbying of the WCB, it was only after former Airspace president Heather Mackenzie and then-vice-president Errol Povah threatened to sue the WCB – for criminal negligence causing death, among other things – that the WCB began to take both Airspace and the tobacco issue a lot more seriously.

Briefly, Airspace has played a pivotal role in many local bylaws throughout the GVRD, on the island and elsewhere.  And Errol Povah was virtually single-handedly responsible for Canada’s – possibly the world’s – first ever 100% smoke-free condominium complex.  And yes, “100%” does include inside private units.  Oliva is in Tsawwassen (Delta), B.C.

Much more info about Airspace and its many achievements is available at airspace.bc.ca and grimreaper.org

Despite all of that, a lot of people still ask the question, “Well, what exactly has Airspace accomplished?”

The short answer:  Given our extremely limited resources – and with all due respect to all of our anti-tobacco colleagues – in many ways, we have accomplished more than many other well-funded anti-tobacco organizations, combined!

The longer answer:  That’s a very difficult question to answer, for a number of reasons.

1)     Tobacco control is ever-evolving.  Some people might suggest, for example, that even if the WCB No Smoking regulation (Jan 1, 2000) had not come into effect then, it would have surely come into affect some time later.  A month?  A year?  A decade later?  Who knows, but such developments really are ‘inevitable’.  That said, the fact of the matter is that tobacco is killing people, globally, at the rate of 15,000 per day, of which 123 are Canadians!  Is resting on our laurels, safe in the knowledge that such precedent-setting tobacco control measures will happen ‘eventually’ truly an appropriate response?  Clearly, the tobacco industry would answer that question with a resounding yes…and for that reason, if no other, our response must be a loud and proud, “NO!”

2)     Rarely do we get credit for any of our achievements.  Let us be clear:  None of us at Airspace are in this for any ‘credit’; we only want to get the job done.  That said, in the case of the WCB, for instance, do you really think the WCB would invite Airspace to its awards ceremony and present us with a plaque, thanking us…and announce to the world that, if it hadn’t been for us threatening to sue the WCB, we might all still be working in smoky workplaces?  Not likely!

3)     And, last but not least, we are, to a huge extent, victims of our own success.  There’s no question:  Progress on the tobacco control front over the last few decades has been absolutely incredible.  Unfortunately, so many people believe that if their workplace is smoke-free, most of the public places they visit are smoke-free and their home and vehicle are smoke-free, then tobacco is no longer an issue.  But people are sadly mistaken if they believe that the tobacco problem has been solved…and that it’s now time for anti-tobacco activists to pack their bags, go home, say “Mission accomplished!”…and turn their attention elsewhere.  As long as there is a tobacco industry, we (collectively) have a problem!  Again, wonderful as all the progress has been, we still have a very long way to go.  After all, Canadians continue to die from smoking at the rate of 45,000 per year and, even more tragically, at least 123 Canadian kids have to take up smoking EACH AND EVERY DAY in order for the tobacco industry to just ‘break even’.

Other people wonder how their hard-earned money will be spent.  For the most part, your donation will be used to continue our effective and results-producing advocacy work, locally and around the world.  We will be giving a total of 30% of the funds raised, divided equally, to 3 different and deserving kids-oriented charities… B.C. Children’s Hospital, Variety Club and Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital.  The balance will be used primarily to cover the many expenses involved in educating kids, globally… and “educating”  decision-makers at all levels of government (local, provincial/state and federal), both here in Canada and internationally.

Ultimately, we will continue to do what we’ve been doing so very well for so very long:  ‘Encouraging’ decision-makers to develop the ‘political will’ (read, gonads) to do the right thing…and much sooner rather than later.

If you needed convincing of the severity of the completely (and very easily and cheaply) preventable tobacco pandemic, we hope we have achieved that.  If we failed to do that, please give us another opportunity.

If you want the biggest bang for your anti-tobacco buck, please support this extremely worthwhile, unique and precedent-setting project:  The JOURNEY FOR A TOBACCO-FREE WORLD.  We would love to have you onboard…and we won’t disappoint you!  Also, please have a look at our “Endorsements” page.  Thank you.

Please contact Errol here.

Ending the controversy about…

The most contrived controversy ever

There is much less controversy about tobacco – and the tobacco industry – than the industry would have you believe.

In fact, there’s more controversy within the anti-tobacco movement about how to eliminate both of those ‘problems’ (tobacco and the tobacco industry)…and rest assured, there’s not a lot of controversy there, either.

When it comes to tobacco, virtually all of the ‘controversy’ surrounding it is generated and perpetuated by the tobacco industry itself, with a little help from its small but efficient army of well-paid puppets, from bar & pub and restaurant associations to the highest echelons of government (just one little example:  Former [Cdn] Prime Minister Paul Martin was – and possibly still is – a tobacco executive).

In most cases, the ‘controversy’ is based on outright lies…and there is no better example of tobacco industry lies than when seven CEOs of various American tobacco companies testified before the U.S. Congress (just 15 years ago) that nicotine – the most addictive drug known — is not addictive!?!  Even at that time, the addictiveness of nicotine was sufficiently well-established within the medical and scientific communities that it was well-known by most of the population 10 years of age and older!  But, bold as that outright lie was, it planted some small seeds of doubt which, in turn, became ‘controversy’.

Fast forward fifteen years:  For the most part, it’s still business as usual for the tobacco industry:  Despite the fact that tobacco kills 5.4 million people around the world every year (causing disease and disabilities in tens of millions more), many people still think of tobacco companies as “good corporate citizens.”  Even within the business community, tobacco companies are welcomed and warmly embraced.  For example, Imperial Tobacco — Canada’s biggest tobacco company, manufacturer of Players, du Maurier and Matinee — will continue to be a ‘proud and upstanding’ member of the Vancouver Board of Trade, despite valiant efforts to have the company unceremoniously kicked out of the board.

The industry and its puppets often like to scream from the mountain-tops, “Freedom!”…and “Choice!”, blissfully ignoring the fact that addiction eliminates freedom and choice.  But again, those seeds of doubt are planted…and ‘controversy’ follows.

Bottom line:  There is no controversy!

GIVEN WHAT IS NOW KNOWN ABOUT BOTH TOBACCO AND THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY, THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION WHATSOEVER FOR ANY CIVILIZED NATION OF THE WORLD TO ALLOW TOBACCO COMPANIES TO OPERATE WITHIN THEIR BORDERS!