Robert Schwartz with the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health says while it’s true that antismoking and public-health campaigns have had an impact, it took decades, and in that time, many have died. “It’s going to be probably an even tougher battle for public health than tobacco,” he said. It is what we do when we come home from work.”Meanwhile, public health authorities often struggle with one crucial part of their jobs, he said: talking to the public. Tobacco is a formidable adversary: Even though the harm caused by cigarettes has been known since the 1960s, smokers, consumer-rights advocates, businesses — and, of course, tobacco companies — entrenched themselves in a battle that raged in the late 1980s and 1990s, especially regarding public health measures. “They know better than to attack public health directly.

Source: The Star March 05, 2023 11:22 UTC