The Guardian, UK
Fiona Harvey
OECD report says pollution will become biggest cause of premature death, killing an estimated 3.6 million people a year by 2050
Global News ran a very interesting segment on how youth are being affected by smoking in mainstream media. Advertising works, when you see an image over and over again it begins to have an effect on you. When youth are bombarded by smoking on TV, in movies, music videos, catwalks and mainstream media , they are being influenced to smoke. Click here to see the news segment from Global news, a very interesting read and some frightening statistics.
From May 1 to 7, 2012, young people across Canada will join together to host the largest youth-led celebration of creative expression and community involvement this country has ever seen.
National Youth Arts Week will showcase simultaneous youth-led projects from St. John's to Vancouver and everywhere in between. Get involved by creating a project or helping to organize one. The week is a project of the Arts Network for Children and Youth.
Click here for more information and to register.
Les Perreaux
Montreal— Globe and Mail Update
Hit by federal regulations and massive class action lawsuits, two of Canada’s tobacco companies have struck back with legal action of their own.
Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. and JTI-Macdonald Corp. have launched proceedings in Ontario Superior Court to attempt to strike down cigarette package warning regulations that came into effect last fall.
Ontario should ban fruit and candy-flavoured cigarettes and similar tobacco products including candies now being sold in the United States, New Democrat MPP France Gelinas urges in a private members’ bill.
Big tobacco says it is challenging Labor's plain packaging laws because cigarette packs are the last place for them to advertise.
Lawyers for British American Tobacco (BAT), Japan Tobacco International, Philp Morris and Imperial Tobacco Australia told a packed court on Tuesday that while the government already forced them to display health warnings, plain packaging would 'extinguish' their brands and logos.
Under the federal government's laws all cigarettes and tobacco products will have to be sold in drab olive-brown packs from December.
Teens take tobacco message on the road to Sacramento
Local teens Dharby Dillon, GraceAnn Reyes and Michael Warren from the Tobacco Free Ninjas recently traveled to Sacramento to take part in Youth Quest 2012, a teen conference and rally focusing on the negative impact of tobacco use and production on the environment.
The Youth Agents of Change Program is an initiative of the Centre for Social Innovation and ING Direct to provide space and support to young people aged 19-29 with a promising social venture.
They are looking for a diverse mix of people and projects to support through the 2012/3 program. The 20 Youth Agents of Change selected for the program will receive:
Youth Speakers Wanted!
Obesity
Between the 2000 and 2004, the prevalence of being overweight among Canadian adults appears to have increased by more than 11 %, while the prevalence of obesity alone increased by more than 8 %.
Starky, 2005)
