Anti-smoking activist dies of lung cancer

TORONTO (Reuters) – A Canadian anti-smoking campaigner who
contracted lung cancer from second-hand smoke after years as a
waitress has died, Ontario’s Heart and Stroke Foundation said
on Tuesday.

Heather Crowe, 61, became a public icon after winning a
landmark 2002 labor compensation case by arguing that she
contracted the disease from inhaling second hand smoke during
her 40-year career as a waitress.

An ardent non-smoker, she appeared in national television
advertisements and inspired a government sponsored award in her
name. In one ad Crowe declared: “People shouldn’t have to go to
work to die.”

Her death came only days before new legislation in the
provinces of Ontario and Quebec is to come into effect, banning
smoking in enclosed public areas and workspaces, and further
restricting the promotion and sale of tobacco products.

Supporters of Crowe want her to remain the public face of
anti-smoking. Ontario’s Heart and Stroke Foundation CEO Rocco
Rossi is campaigning to have May 31, the day the province’s
anti-smoking legislation is enacted, be declared Heather Crowe
Day.

Total sales of cigarettes in Canada decreased over the past
year by 2.5 percent, according to April government statistics.

($1=$1.12 Canadian)