2 Carlton Street, Suite 1306 Toronto, M5B 1J3 Tel: (416) 595-0006 Fax: (416) 595-0030 E-mail: [email protected]

Michael Enright, 23 January 2014

alPHa’s members are Host, the Sunday Edition, CBC Radio the units PO Box 500, Station A, in Ontario. Toronto, M5W 1E 6

Dear Mr. Enright, alPHa Sections: Boards of Health Re: Exploding the Myth of Second-Hand Smoke Section On behalf of the Council of Ontario Medical Officers of Health of the Association of Council of Ontario Medical Officers of Local Public Health Agencies of Ontario, and representing the voices of all Medical Health (COMOH) Officers of Health in Ontario, we are writing today to express grave concern over the inaccuracies presented in your recent radio essay that claimed second-hand smoke (SHS) does not cause lung cancer. Affiliate

Organizations: You chose to use only one study on which to base the claim that SHS does not cause ANDSOOHA - Public lung cancer, and do not take into account the full weight of scientific evidence proving Health Nursing that indeed SHS is causally linked to lung cancer. Myriad studies have clearly Management established the link between cancer and SHS, and we urge you to review the "Evidence Association of Ontario to Guide Action: Comprehensive Tobacco Control in Ontario" produced in 2010 by the Public Health Business Smoke-Free Ontario Scientific Advisory Committee for a detailed review of the Administrators research. The dangers of SHS are also well recognized at the global level by the International Agency for Research on Cancer which conclusively determined that Association of Public Health exposure to SHS is a Class 1 carcinogen, and by the Surgeon General’s report, The Epidemiologists Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, accessible at in Ontario http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/secondhandsmoke/index.html .

Association of Supervisors of Public Tobacco use, enabled by the culture that perpetuates it, remains a leading scourge on Health Inspectors of the health of the public. To suggest otherwise without acknowledging the abundant Ontario evidence to the contrary is wholeheartedly irresponsible. Not only is it incorrect, it causes harm by reinforcing the cultural messages implanted by the tobacco industry Health Promotion Ontario that smoking should be tolerated everywhere. Moreover, suggesting that SHS is somehow not hazardous undermines decades of work to denormalize smoking and Ontario Association of reduce everyone’s exposure to this carcinogen. Deriding this good work as “social Public Health Dentistry engineering”, when you note yourself the multiple dangers of SHS to others in the Ontario Society of form of emphysema and asthma constitutes a reckless endorsement of one of Nutrition Professionals society’s greatest killers. in Public Health The 1991 Broadcasting Act states that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as the

national public broadcaster should provide radio and television services incorporating a wide variety of programming that informs, enlightens and entertains. Not only does your radio essay fail on all three counts, it negates the experience of thousands of

Canadian individuals and families who have been devastated by the impact of second hand smoke.

www.alphaweb.org Providing Leadership in Public Health Management Sincerely,

Dr. Kim Barker (Algoma) Dr. Monica Hau (Peel) Dr. Malcolm Lock (Brant) Dr. Eileen de Villa (Peel) Dr. David Colby (Chatham-Kent) Dr. Megan Ward (Peel) Dr. Robert Kyle (Durham) Dr. Miriam Klassen (Perth) Dr. Paul Roumeliotis (Eastern Ontario) Dr. Rosana Pellizzari (Peterborough) Dr. Franklin Warsh (Elgin-St. Thomas) Dr. Rosemarie Ramsingh (Porcupine) Dr. Hazel Lynn (Grey-Bruce) Dr. Maureen Carew (Renfrew) Dr. Lynn Noseworthy (Haliburton-Kawartha- Dr. Charles Gardner (Simcoe-Muskoka) Pine Ridge) Dr. Jim Pfaff (Simcoe-Muskoka) Dr. Robert Nosal (Halton) Dr. Colin Lee (Simcoe-Muskoka) Dr. Monir Taha (Halton) Dr. Lisa Simon (Simcoe-Muskoka) Dr. Elizabeth Richardson (Hamilton) Dr. Susan Surry (Simcoe-Muskoka) Dr. Julie Emili (Hamilton) Dr. Penny Sutcliffe (Sudbury) Dr. Ninh Tran (Hamilton) Dr. David Williams (Thunder Bay) Dr. Hamidah Meghani (Hamilton) Dr. Janet DeMille (Thunder Bay) Dr. Richard Schabas (Hastings-Prince Edward Dr. Marlene Spruyt (Timiskaming) Dr. Ian Gemmill (Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox Dr. David McKeown (Toronto) & Addington) Dr. Barbara Yaffe (Toronto) Dr. Kieran Moore (Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox Dr. Rita Shahin (Toronto) & Addington) Dr. Michael Finkelstein (Toronto) Dr. Sudit Ranade (Lambton) Dr. Lisa Berger (Toronto) Dr. Paula Stewart (Leeds-Grenville-Lanark) Dr. Elizabeth Rea (Toronto) Dr. Chris Mackie (Middlesex-London) Dr. Howard Shapiro (Toronto) Dr. Bryna Warshawsky (Middlesex-London) Dr. Irene Armstrong (Toronto) Dr. Valerie Jaeger (Niagara) Dr. Vinita Dubey (Toronto) Dr. Jessica Hopkins (Niagara) Dr. Allison Chris (Toronto) Dr. Andrea Feller (Niagara) Dr. Monica Hau (Toronto) Dr. Jim Chirico (North Bay – Parry Sound) Dr. Herveen Sachdeva (Toronto) Dr. James Arthurs (Northwestern) Dr. Liana Nolan (Waterloo) Dr. Isra Levy (Ottawa) Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang (Waterloo) Dr. Carolyn Pim (Ottawa) Dr. Nicola Mercer (Wellington-Dufferin- Dr. Rosamund Lewis (Ottawa) Guelph) Dr. Ed Ellis (Ottawa) Dr. Allen Heimann (Windsor-Essex) Dr. Vera Etches (Ottawa) Dr. Gary Kirk (Windsor-Essex) Dr. Douglas Neal (Oxford) Dr. Karim Kurji (York) Dr. David Mowat (Peel) Dr. Richard Gould (York) Dr. Kathleen Dooling (Peel) Dr. Lilian Yuan (York)

COPY: Dr. Arlene King, Chief Medical Officer of Health (Ontario) Hubert Lacroix, CBC President Rémi Racine CBC Board Chair, Esther Enkin, CBC Ombudsman Hon. Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage