OTTAWA (AP) - Canada's tobacco industry has deceived the public about its research on smoking, prompting the government to consider tougher anti-smoking measures, Health Minister Allan Rock said Monday.

Rock referred to 1,200 pages of industry documents made public by his department Monday, most from British American Tobacco, the parent company of Canada's Imperial Tobacco Ltd. ``It shows the things being said by their highly paid lobbyists and spokespeople have not been right, that the tobacco industry is prepared to say one thing in their boardrooms and back rooms and something else out front on the street,'' Rock said. Michel Descoteaux, spokesman for Imperial Tobacco, called allegations that the company targeted young smokers or spiked cigarettes with higher levels of nicotine ``an effort to demonize the tobacco industry in Canada.'' Rock said the federal government will introduce new warning requirements for cigarette packaging and step up an anti-smoking advertising campaign. But Rock ruled out federal lawsuits or legal moves similar to the multibillion dollar settlement in the United States with U.S. tobacco companies, leaving such challenges to provincial governments faced with smoking-related health care costs.

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