The Smoke-Free Family program, with its Take Your Butt Outside campaign, invites Quebec families to make their home and car smoke-free zones.

This program encourages family members — whether smokers or not — to live in a smoke-free environment by making sure that no one smokes in the house or the car. This applies to family members and visitors.

In addition to protecting everyone’s health and well-being, a smoke-free environment helps prevent young people from taking up smoking, reduces the risk of former smokers taking up the habit again and motivates some smokers to try to kick the habit once and for all.

Families can register any time they want at TakeYourButtOutside.ca. The program helps families who want to live in a smoke-free environment by offering them:

• a Web site (TakeYourButtOutside.ca) with information on tobacco smoke, tips for overcoming obstacles, downloadable tools and a testimonials section
• emails with tips and encouragement
• the chance to win prizes

Smoke-Free Family is an initiative of ACTI-MENU and the Prevention Division of the Montreal Heart Institute. The program is developed in partnership with a number of public and private organizations, including Quebec’s department of health and social services (the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux), its public health departments (the Directions de santé publique du Québec), the Canadian Cancer Society, Jean Coutu, Johnson & Johnson and Health Canada.

For more information, contact Mylène Khalil at 514 985-2466, ext. 242 or at mkhalil@actimenu.ca.