See Part 1 of this series here.
The world’s most notorious example of tobacco control policy failure is in the Canadian territory of Nunavut where 90% of the pregnant women are regular smokers. According to Canadian government data, the smoking rate in Nunavut is more than triple the Canadian average. A peer reviewed study found that lung cancer rates among women in Nunavut are 4.5x the rate for all women in Canada and 20x the rate for women in the Murmansk Oblast, a circumpolar region of Russia.
Why are smoking rates so much higher in Nunavut than in the rest of Canada and other far Northern parts of the world? We know that government policy plays at least some role since there is essentially zero enforcement of local tobacco laws. We also know that Canada has a substantial problem with contraband tobacco including with the illegal production of cigarettes.
Another question, is the tort litigation against the tobacco industry diverting public attention from scrutinizing the role that government regulatory and tax policies play in Canadian smoking rates?
