Opinion: We ban tobacco ads; Why not those of fossil fuels?

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My father was a big smoker. Smoke-laden air was normal in my house. If we were lucky, it would break a car window. But it wasn’t just my house; Ashtrays were freely available in restaurants. People smoked on airplanes. Du Maurier sponsored the Montreal Grand Tennis Open. Smoking was normal. They all did it.

My dad was furious when they banned smoking in public spaces. When they banned advertisements and then put graphic warning labels on cigarette packages, I hid their cigarettes to protect their health. This was not enough to counteract his addiction. He died when he was 20 years old before any of his future grandchildren could be born.

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Restricting tobacco advertisements and then banning smoking in public spaces has changed society. Before these restrictions, approximately 50 percent of Canadians were regular smokers.; from 2022, is less than 12 percent. Smoking is no longer normalized. I had to explain to my children when they were very little what those white sticks they found on the ground were. They had never seen anyone they knew with a cigarette.

Despite not having been exposed to tobacco, my son began showing signs of asthma before he turned two. At the time, we lived on St-Urbain St., in the densely populated Plateau neighborhood, where so many cars pass by on their way downtown. My son wasn’t the only one who developed asthma; In a study published in The lancet in 2019Of 194 countries evaluated, Canada had the 34th highest pediatric asthma incidence rate, the highest among high-income nations.

Burning fossil fuels has direct impacts on air quality and our health, and is also fueling the climate crisis. Climate change caused by fossil fuels caused more than 18 million hectares consumed by fires in Canada last year, marking the most severe fire season ever recorded. The impacts of wildfires and extreme weather events are already disproportionately affecting Indigenous people and other marginalized communities and families.

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However, the industries causing this destruction continue to promote their products as desirable and safe. It has been reported that they have known since 1954 of the devastating impacts that its emissions would have on planetary health, just as the tobacco industry was aware of the health impacts of smoking.

Pathways Alliance, a consortium of major oil sands companies (currently under investigation) by the Competition Bureau for greenwashing), has promoted his “net zero” initiatives at Bixi stands and on Air Canada flights. Meanwhile, Energir has advertised “renewable natural gas” on the radio and in the STM, charging its customers more for said “renewable” product but giving them the Same product as all the others.revealed a Radio-Canada investigation.

France Fossil fuel advertising banned in 2022. and will ban advertising on high-emission vehicles in the near future. This month, NDP MP Charlie Angus introduced Bill C-372, “Fossil Fuel Advertising Law” in the House of Commons. This was based on the law targeting tobacco advertisements. The reaction was rapid and extreme with exaggerated claims that ordinary citizens would be imprisoned for sharing positive opinions about oil and gas. Let’s hope common sense prevails.

Last summer, my kids spent their first week of day camp inside because of wildfire smoke. The following week, they suffered a torrential downpour under a tornado warning as the streets turned into rivers. Is this your new normal?

We need to stop the normalization of our society’s dependence on fossil fuels. A ban on fossil fuel ads would end greenwashing and send a clear message that we are seeking a new normal, one that prioritizes the health of future generations over corporate profits for the sake of the health of the planet and of our children.

Jennifer Smith lives in Mile End and is co-founder of For Our Kids Montreal and a member of Mères au front, networks of parents taking climate action.

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