Health groups demand Saskatchewan account for stance on menthol smokes

Health groups in Saskatchewan have issued a statement calling on the province's health minister to respond to questions about menthol cigarettes, in light of revelations that the province stalled a national effort to ban such products.

On Monday, the federal minister of health, Rona Ambrose, said there was an attempt to have a nation-wide ban but consultations on the topic stalled. Ambrose specifically noted that Saskatchewan was not on board with such a ban.

• National ban on menthol smokes stalled by Saskatchewan, Rona Ambrose says

"Saskatchewan has had the highest youth smoking rates for more than a decade,"Natalie Gierman, an official with the Heart and Stroke Foundation, said in a statement Tuesday. "We want to know why [Saskatchewan Health] Minister [Dustin] Duncan would block a federal law to protect kids. Saskatchewan residents deserve an answer."

According to the health groups, which include the Lung Association and the Cancer Society, they have been lobbying the province for several years on the issue of menthol cigarettes.

"We just met with the government and [the NDP] opposition about this issue in April," Jennifer Miller, of the Lung Association, said in the statement. "To hear that Saskatchewan won't ban these products, and then would stand in the way of the federal government doing so, is irresponsible."

The groups believe the province has not made substantial progress on the control of tobacco.

"Just to be clear, the provincialgovernment spends virtually nothing on tobacco control," Donna Pasiechnik, of the Canadian Cancer Society said. "It has been more than fiveyears since we've seen a new tobacco control policy. It seems everything health groups recommend, this government rejects. What are these concrete actions?"

The groups called on the province to move ahead with a Saskatchewan regulation to ban flavoured tobacco products.