July 21, 2009
Mark Warawa Speaks Out On Government Initiatives to Protect the Health and Safety of Canadian Children
The Government of Canada has announced a number of important initiatives to protect the health and safety of Canadians, including proposing changes to the Tobacco Act to address the advertising and marketing of tobacco products to young people.
“Tobacco companies that aggressively go after our kids to get them hooked on tobacco by using candy-flavoured tobacco with packaging attractive to children is despicable. I’m very proud of what our Government is doing to fight that,” says the Langley MP “Our government has introduced legislation to protect our children against something that shouldn’t be happening in the first place.”
Other health measures protecting Canadian children include:
- Proposing regulatory action to prevent the use of certain chemicals in soft vinyl children’s toys that pose a health risk;
- Becoming the first country in the world to proceed with regulations prohibiting polycarbonate baby bottles that contain Bisphenol A (BPA);
- Proposing regulations to limit the lead content in products such as pacifiers, teethers, baby bottle nipples, plastic beverage straws and drinking cup spouts;
- Working with provincial partners to reduce drug use among Canadians through the Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund;
- Launching a three-year public education campaign to encourage parents to have their children immunized against certain diseases before the age of two years.
“We are committed to ensuring that our policies, programs and services meet the important health and safety needs of all Canadians, and especially our children,” says Warawa. For more information about the Government’s health policies and initiatives, visit the Health Canada and Public Health Agency of Canada websites.
