Canada launches warning labels on each cigarette
Canada launches warning labels on each cigarette
Canada is the first nation to use warnings on individual cigarettes in an effort to deter smoking.
Canada will be the first nation to start printing warnings directly onto individual cigarettes in a bid to deter young people from starting smoking and encourage others to quit.
The warnings, which will be in English and French, will include phrases like "Cigarettes cause cancer" and "Poison in every puff".
The new regulations go into effect on Tuesday.
Starting next year, Canadians will begin to see the new warning labels.
By July 2024 manufacturers will have to ensure the warnings are on all king-size cigarettes sold, and by April 2025 all regular-size cigarettes and little cigars with tipping paper and tubes must include the warnings.
The phrases will appear by the filter, including warnings about harming children, damaging organs and causing impotence and leukaemia.
In May, Health Canada said the new regulations "will make it virtually impossible to avoid health warnings" on tobacco products.
A second set of six phrases is expected to be printed on cigarettes in 2026.
The move is part of Canada's effort to reduce tobacco use to less than 5% by 2035 and follows a 75-day public consultation period that was launched last year.
Canada has required the printing of warning labels on cigarette packages since 1989 and in 2000 the country adopted pictorial warning requirements for tobacco product packages.
Health Canada said it plans to expand on warnings by printing additional warning labels inside the packages themselves, and introducing a new external warning messages.
Dr Robert Schwartz, of the University of Toronto, told BBC News it was good news that Canada was "moving forward with this innovation".
"Health warnings on individual cigarettes will likely push some people who smoke to make a quit attempt and may prevent some young people from starting to smoke," he said.
He also pointed to New Zealand, which has introduced very low nicotine cigarettes, as a leader in limiting the use of tobacco.
Mr Schwartz added: "These are the kinds of measures needed if we are serious about decreasing tobacco use."
Tobacco use continues to kill 48,000 Canadians each year.
"Tobacco use continues to be one of Canada's most significant public health problems, and is the country's leading preventable cause of disease and premature death in Canada," Public Services Minister Jean-Yves Duclos has previously said.
The Canadian Cancer Society, Canada's Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Lung Association have all praised the warning labels, saying they hope the measures will deter people, especially young people, from taking up smoking in the first place.
Cigarette smoking is widely regarded as a risk factor for lung cancer, heart disease and stroke.
In Canada, the rate of smokers aged 15 years or older is around 10%, according to a national 2021 Tobacco and Nicotine survey but electronic cigarette use has been on the rise.
Could someone smart enlighten me on why cigarettes continue to be allowed to be sold if we know that it causes cancer and costs the healthcare system millions (billions?) each year? I know we can't suddenly stop production overnight but can't they gradually putting a stricter ban on it until it's almost impossible to get? Is it smokers being too addicted? Is it tobacco lobby being too strong?
This is so stupid, they know they are bad for them and they keep puffing away. So why waste the resources?
Reminds me of Bill Burr's take on DV
What about e-cigs and vape? They're the new hip and most young people are catering to that now some even rationalizing that they do it because it doesn't have nicotine and is therefore not dangerous.
"Never knows best".
Denis Leary: It doesn't matter how big the warnings on the cigarettes are; you could have a black pack, with a skull and crossbones on the front, called TUMORS, and smokers would be around the block going, "I can't wait to get my hands on these f***ing things! I bet ya get a tumor as soon as you light up!"
Funny enough tale is he actually quit a while ago, but there are a handful of folks that legitimatly don't give a damn how may warnings of what type you put on there. It seems a lot more practical to just continue to raise the tax on them to fund the health system detriments they pose.
When I ran the tobacco lockup in a grocery store old, nearly dead people would specifically request boxes or cartons with the less disturbing images on them.
Wayne: I'll have a dart...wait a minute.
Dan: What is it, Waynes?
Wayne: It says here on my dart that "cigarettes cause impotence".
Dan: Wells, you can always enjoys watching other people's kids falls off of bikes, Waynes.
Wayne: (takes a long drag) I could watch kids fall off of bikes all day long, Dan. All (drag) day (drag) long (drag).Collect them all!
I want a pack of these extremely bad, those look hard af
I think the next step should be that, while you're smoking the smoke writes "Smoking Cause Cancer" in Morse code.
😂 😂 😂