Since I was never in contact with Neil after my call to him in 1986, described below, there are some thoughts I would like to follow up on that Cynthia may be aware of.

Memories of Neil Collishaw:

I have just leaned of Neil’s Collishaw passing through a CBC news story, and my sincere sympathies to family and friends of Neil.

The news of Neil’s remarkable anti-smoking efforts during his time at Health Canada, the WHO, and his private consulting was no surprise to me, even though I only knew Neil from a single phone conversation in 1986, that has echoed though my life since.

As mentioned in the CBC memorial, Neil had also accompanied Heather Crowe, a non-smoker with lung cancer, while she is traveling across Canada to raise awareness of the dangers of second hand smoke. That Neil would be so supportive of Heather Crowe’s efforts was no surprise, given what I knew of Neil’s dedication to getting the truth out, and that support was no doubt hugely valuable to Heather personally.

While I unfortunately can’t count myself as either friend of family of Neil, my single call into Health Canada in 1986, to corroborate information in an article describing the substantial radiation exposure resulting from smoking, cemented the importance of Neil and his anti-smoking efforts into my mind.

Neil had already moved on from Heath Canada by the time I joined in 2002, but his periodic interviews on CBC radio and TV, motivated me raise the radiation and tobacco issue with Health Canada officials on several occasions. Unfortunately, none of those interactions was anything like the knowledgeable and dedication I encountered with Neil in 1986.

To this day, one can enter “radiation and tobacco” into an online search to confirm the reality of this issue on US Center for Disease Control and Prevention of other US sites, but there is still no mention on Heath Canada’s or the Public Health Agency of Canada’s sites. A sad commentary on the lack of leadership the on this issue in the absence of Neil.

Without the aid of the information services, we have today, in 1986, Neil could confirm the radiation exposure from tobacco due to an average smoking habit of the day with a few calculations, provide the reference for the original 1964 scientific study, as well as multiple references to US Surgeon General reports on the same topic. Neil was a model Civil Servant and it seems a remarkable humanitarian as well.

Again, my deepest sympathies to Neil’s family and friends, he will be missed.

Sincerely,

Dean Smith