Ontario family doctors speak out on air pollution

Date: Nov. 22, 1999
Time: 2:13 pm

"Air pollution can be deadly for some, and all of us are affected by even very low levels of pollutants," said Dr. David Mathies, president-elect of the Ontario College of Family Physicians as he launched the public awareness campaign in collaboration with the David Suzuki Foundation. "We see the effects of air pollution on people's health day after day, and prevention is part of our jobs."

The launch of the campaign is designed to raise public awareness of the issue in time to influence next week's meeting of federal and provincial ministers of the environment. The ministers are meeting to discuss devising national standards to curb air pollutants.

"We're launching this campaign to contact virtually every family physician in Ontario and make clean air and a healthy atmosphere a priority for them and their patients," said David Suzuki. "Pollution from fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas means premature death for up to 6000 Ontario residents every year."

In addition to encouraging physicians to answer questions about air pollution the campaign also includes a poster depicting a child flying a kite on a beach with the caption "This is about all we should be adding to our air."

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