Two health groups called for more graphic images on packs of smokes, hoping to curb more people from lighting up.
Members from the organizations joined Pat Tarbox, husband of the late anti-smoking advocate Barb Tarbox, in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s southeast Calgary riding yesterday morning to push for an update to health warnings on tobacco products.
One of the images being pushed for by the Canadian Cancer Society and the Alberta Policy Coalition for Cancer Prevention is a gripping image of Barb Tarbox as the Edmonton native slowly succumbed to lung cancer linked to a longtime smoking addiction. She died in 2003 at the age of 41.
“She would have liked to speak to 500,000 if she could,” Pat Tarbox explained.
He said the process of updating health warnings in the U.S. has been much more fluid and a decision is expected by next June.
Dan Holinda, executive director of the Canadian Cancer Society Alberta division, said the images currently used are outdated and ineffective.
“People have seen them for over a decade,” he said. “We need to change the focus now to tell the truth to Canadians to save their lives.”
