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Six Nations tobacco industry regulating itself By Donna Durie Writer Six Nations Health Services is looking to reduce youth smoking rates on the terri- tory. But a MacMaster Univer- sity study claiming five per- cent of children as young as five were smoking here may have exaggerated earlier statistics garnered from an- other study. Health Services released statistics two few weeks ago that claimed about five per cent of children on the territory aged five to IO smoke. That statistic came from a Tobacco Think Tank Report com.piled by McMaster Uni- versity doctors Sonia Anand and Sujane Kan- dasamy, which contains recommendations on curb- ing youth smoking rates on Six Nations . But the 2012 Tobacco Think Tank Report is not a stand alone study but rather a spin-off of an ear- lier study, 'Health Assess- ment and Risk Evaluation among Aboriginal People ' (SHARE-AP) conducted more than two decades ago in the late 90s. Dr. Kandasamy said in the I 990's SHARE-AP study her medical team recruited households on Six Nations and selected families ran- domly who had been as- signed to health intervention. All· families completed health assess- ments (questionnaires, ""'""'·"' 4,l•,•• •• ,, •• ,•,•\ '-" ,•\"-. ...... , .... \\, h_,, ••• ,. ,•,h.,\,\. 1··· .--,~' ,. ' ,, , , • • •' ' -"Iii Posting Notice no sales to minors. (Photo by Donna Durie) physical measurements) at the initial visit and then again six months later. "At the initial visit, chil- dren were asked these ~uestions by a trained re- search assistant who recorded their answers on the case report forms ," said Kandasamy. She said study results were intrepreted from those an- swers . "It is from the chil- dren's answers where this percentage came to light." But the new tobacco report also went beyond health statistics and took aim at Six Nations' burgeoning to- bacco industry. It recommended smoke shops increase cigarette prices. It also recommended Six Nations does more to re - strict youth access to to - bacco. It also suggests that "the community should adopt a minimum age" for the purchase of tobacco. Some other recommenda- tions in the report include: -Increase enforcement of restricting youth access to tobacco -Create and enforce by- laws rega (ding advertising and selling tobacco to mi- nors ' ie ' signs. -Control what it called "contraband" tobacco, which includes the measure of allowing police to stop and search vehicles "if rea- sonable" for carrying raw leaf tobacco (Continued on page S)