Barb Tarbox, MSM (April 10, 1961 – May 18, 2003) was a Canadian anti-smoking activist. A lifelong smoker dying of lung and brain cancer, she openly discussed her illness, its cause and its consequences, which propelled her to prominence.
Barb Tarbox | |
|---|---|
 Barb Tarbox on a Canadian cigarette box. | |
| Born | April 10, 1961 |
| Died | May 18, 2003 (aged 42) Edmonton, Alberta |
In high school, between the ages of 14 and 16, she was a model for fashion companies and joined many sports in her school. She wanted to be popular, and believed being a model was not enough; so she then became a smoker[citation needed]. During the last months of Tarbox's life she went around Canada teaching young adults the consequences of smoking.[1] She emphasized how she was unable to quit smoking even after she found out that she had cancer.[2]
Tarbox died at a hospital in Edmonton on May 18, 2003, at the age of 42 from brain cancer and lung cancer.[1]
On December 5, 2003, Barb Tarbox was posthumously awarded the Meritorious Service Medal[3] by Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada, for devotion to the anti-smoking cause. The decoration was accepted in Ottawa by her daughter, Mackenzie.
On December 30, 2010, the Government of Canada unveiled tougher anti-smoking images on their cigarette packaging including two images that feature Barb Tarbox during her last days.[4]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b "Anti-smoking crusader Barb Tarbox dead at 42". Toronto Star. 2003-06-20. Retrieved 2009-07-12.
- ^ "Raging to the end; An intimate look at a dying woman's anti-smoking crusade She influenced thousands but secretly smoked to the last". Toronto Star. 2005-01-02. Retrieved 2009-07-12.
- ^ "Biographies: Born 1961-1977". Calgary Herald. 2008-06-08. Retrieved 2009-07-12.
- ^ "Cigarette package warnings to get larger, more graphic". Toronto Star. 2010-12-30. Archived from the original on 1 January 2011. Retrieved 2010-12-30.