Canada will begin posting health warnings on INDIVIDUAL cigarettes – the first country in the world to do so
- Smokers find a label on every cigarette they light with phrases like “Cigarettes cause cancer,” “Tobacco smoke is harmful” to children, and “Poison in every puff.”
- The new regulation comes into force on August 1 and will ‘make it virtually impossible to avoid health warnings’ on tobacco products
- It was first announced last year and is being introduced to encourage more people to quit smoking. Tobacco kills about 48,000 Canadians each year
Canada will soon become the first country in the world to put health warnings on individual cigarettes.
Smokers will find labels on every cigarette they light with phrases such as “Cigarettes cause cancer,” “Tobacco smoke is harmful” to children, and “Poison in every puff.”
The new regulation introduced by Health Canada will go into effect Aug. 1 and will “make it virtually impossible to avoid health warnings” on tobacco products.
Tobacco companies will be required to print the health warnings directly on each cigarette and they will appear in English and French, the country’s official languages.
The plan was first announced last year and is being introduced to encourage more people to quit smoking.
Canada will soon become the first country in the world to put health warnings on individual cigarettes
Smokers find a label on every cigarette they light with phrases like “Cigarettes cause cancer,” “Tobacco smoke is harmful” to children, and “Poison in every puff.”
It will be phased in and Health Canada expects retailers to only sell tobacco products with the new warning labels directly on the cigarettes by April 2025.
“The new regulations on the appearance, packaging and labeling of tobacco products will be part of the Government of Canada’s ongoing efforts to help adults who smoke to quit, to protect youth and non-tobacco users from nicotine dependence, and to further enhance the appeal of tobacco.” Reduce. officials said.
Warning labels are already printed on the front of cigarette packs, but the new regulation is part of an effort to further reduce tobacco use in Canada to less than five percent by 2035.
Labeled products are loose cigarettes, cigars, tubes and other tobacco products.
King-size cigarettes will be the first with individual warnings by the end of July 2024, ahead of regular cigarettes and other products by the end of April 2025.
And other measures will accompany the new regulations to reduce the number of smokers.
“Tobacco use remains one of Canada’s most significant public health problems and is the leading preventable cause of illness and premature death,” said Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos.
Tobacco companies will be required to print the health warnings directly on each cigarette and they will appear in English and French, the country’s official languages
“Our government is using every evidence-based tool at its disposal to help protect the health of Canadians, especially young people.”
Tobacco is said to kill about 48,000 Canadians each year.
Canadian Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Carolyn Bennett, said: “We are taking action by becoming the first country in the world to label individual cigarettes with health warnings.”
The country has required warning labels on the front of cigarette packs since 1989, although this is behind the US, the first country in the world to introduce the health warnings in 1965.
According to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking rates have since dropped significantly from 42 percent in the mid-1960s to 11 percent by 2021.
Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer, heart disease and stroke and is the leading cause of preventable death in the US.
Each year in America, more than 480,000 people die from smoking.