January 17, 2000
(Health and Community Services)

                                                     Smoke Free Malls

The Avalon region's three largest shopping centres, the Avalon Mall, Village Shopping Centre and Sobey's Square Shopping Centre, will be adopting smoke-free policies as of May 1, 2000. The Alliance for the Control of Tobacco, the Heart Health Coalition, St. John�s Region, and the organizations these groups represent, strongly and fully support the new smoke free mall policy and applaud the management of these three shopping centres for their leadership in this important public health issue.

The malls' decision comes after months of working with the Heart Health Coalition, St. John's Region, who conducted an extensive survey of customers at each of the three malls. The survey showed strong public support for smoke free shopping centres.

"The Heart Health Coalition, St. John�s Region congratulates the Avalon Mall, Village Shopping Centre and Sobey�s Square for taking this important step in protecting their customers and staff from dangerous environmental tobacco smoke. We are hopeful that others will follow the malls� lead and that legislation will be forthcoming," says Linda Carter, chairperson of the Heart Health Coalition.

"The increase in smoke free places in our province is encouraging," reports Dr. Khalid Aziz, a pediatrician and board member of ACT. "Non-smokers should not be exposed to the over 50 known carcinogens present in tobacco smoke."

Roger Grimes, Minister of Health and Community Services, congratulated the Heart Health Coalition, St. John's Region, for their work, and congratulated the malls' management for taking a step in the right direction. "The decision by the malls to adopt smoke-free policies by this spring should be a model for other public places in the province," said the minister. "This positive action on the part of mall management is in line with the Provincial Tobacco Reduction Strategy. We encourage both individuals and groups to become familiar with the strategy, and to work with government, the Alliance for the Control of Tobacco and the Teen Tobacco Team on reducing smoking in Newfoundland and Labrador."

The smoke free malls announcement is timed to coincide with National Non-Smoking Week, January 17-23. Second hand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death in Newfoundland and Labrador claiming an estimated 70 lives per year. Second hand smoke is responsible for sickness, disease and death among food service workers and is responsible for an estimated 8,000 cases of childhood illness in this province every year.

Media contact:

Brent Smith
Program Director
Alliance for the Control of Tobacco
(709) 753-0079
(709) 753-0109 fax.

Carl Cooper
Director of Communications
Health and Community Services
(709) 729-1377
(709) 729-0121 fax.

Linda Carter, Chair, Heart Health Coalition, St. John�s Region, (709) 738-4912.

2000 01 17                                                         2:45 p.m.