Smoke & Mirrors: The Canadian Tobacco War

"An outstanding achievement."
Tobacco Control: An International Journal

"A must read for potential or current lobbyists against tobacco consumption in Canada and in developing countries"
Annals of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada

Smoke & Mirrors provides an insider's view of the Canadian tobacco war, a hundred-year old conflict that began to escalate in the 1980s. Written by a prominent antismoking advocate, the book explains how Canada emerged as a global leader in the public health crusade to regulate the powerful tobacco industry. Author Rob Cunningham exposes the industry's deception and tactics; and describes in fascinating detail the bitter campaigns to maintain high tobacco taxes, ban tobacco advertising, eliminate tobacco sponsorships, require plain packaging, mandate clear health warnings, and prohibit smoking in public places and workplaces.

While tobacco wars continue to rage in Canada and the industrialized North, the battleground is shifting increasingly to less developed countries and eastern Europe. For those in the front lines and other concerned readers, Smoke & Mirrors outlines how to take on the "merchants of death" — and win.

The author

A lawyer by profession, Rob Cunningham holds degrees in political science, law and business. Cunningham first became active in tobacco issues in 1988 and has since become a recognized expert in the field of tobacco control. He has worked as a consultant for provincial, national, and international health organizations. As one of the core group of Canadian activists fighting for tobacco control, Cunningham has testified before parliamentary committees, given hundreds of media interviews in Canada and the United States, published numerous tobacco-related articles, and initiated private prosecutions for violations of tobacco control laws. Cunningham now works in Ottawa as a senior policy analyst for the Canadian Cancer Society.