Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education

Five years of monitoring progress toward the goals of the Ontario Tobacco Strategy reveal mixed success: declining smoking among adults, but increased smoking by youth; increased protection against environmental tobacco smoke in many public settings, but more ready access to cigarettes for minors; fairly widespread interest in quitting on the part of adult smokers, but an increase in the average amount smoked daily by men. Clearly, much has been accomplished since the initiation of the OTS, but much remains to be done. The renewal of the Strategy in September 1999, with an additional $10 million in funding, is a clear indication that much more will be done.