Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 22, 1995 TAG: 9509220083
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS|
DATELINE: TORONTO LENGTH: Medium
In a 5-4 ruling, the high court said the sweeping Tobacco Products Control Act of 1988, which banned almost all advertising of tobacco products, was unconstitutional.
Limited restrictions on tobacco ads are permissible, but a comprehensive ban improperly prohibits a manufacturer from communicating with customers about a legal product, the majority opinion said.
Although elated by the decision, tobacco industry officials decided on a measured response. They said they would voluntarily continue to honor the ban pending consultations with the government on which restrictions to maintain and which to lift.
``The one thing I know for certain: there will be advertising of some kind, by tobacco companies aimed at their customers - people who have already decided to smoke,'' said Robert Parker, a spokesman for the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers Council.
Canada's health minister, Diane Marleau, said the government needed time to study the ruling before making a detailed response, but she made clear that tobacco companies still faced pressure.
``Forty-thousand people a year die as a direct result of smoking,'' she said. ``We're going to continue to fight this ... that's what health ministers are for.''
Canada's smoking industry agreed to withdraw tobacco ads from radio and television in the 1970s but challenged the 1988 ban that also barred print and billboard ads.
Two major companies, RJR-Macdonald and Imperial Tobacco, have been fighting since 1988 to overturn the law. They won a favorable Quebec Superior Court ruling in 1991, then turned to the Supreme Court of Canada when a Quebec appeals court overturned the decision.
Anti-smoking activists were aghast at the death of a law viewed as a model for other nations and spoke bitterly of the tobacco companies' pugnacity.
``They are unmatched in terms of their resources and lack of ethics, in terms of any sense of responsibility for the hideous numbers of deaths they cause every day,'' said Dr. Andrew Pipe of Physicians for a Smoke Free Canada. Some activists said they would lobby the Canadian government to declare tobacco a dangerous substance.
The court ruling said the government could no longer require manufacturers to print unattributed health warnings on cigarette packs. Parker, of the tobacco council, said the industry and the government would discuss the wording of new warnings.
by CNB