Dear Editor of the Toronto Star:

Star public health reporter Karen Palmer accurately captures the current
concerns of public health officials in Ontario in general and Toronto in
particular (Public health takes aim at smoking, Dec. 30).  Perhaps one
day public health officials will return to their 19th century concerns
with social justice and the roots of illness and we will see headlines
such as "Public health takes aim at poverty: Educating government
officials and general public to the severe health effects of poverty and
marginalization the biggest challenge of 2004."

In the meantime, public health remains on the public policy sidelines
with their obsessive focus on "lifestyle choices" while the economic and
social conditions that are the primary determinants of health continue
to deteriorate in Canada, Ontario, and Toronto.
--

Dennis Raphael, PhD
Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director
School of Health Policy and Management
Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
tel: 416-736-2100, ext. 22134
fax: 416-736-5227
home: home: 416-465-7455
email: [log in to unmask]
 website: http://quartz.atkinson.yorku.ca/QuickPlace/draphael/Main.nsf/

To unsubscribe send one line: unsubscribe click4hp to: [log in to unmask] . To view archives or modify subscription see: http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/click4hp.html