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.
It’d be very ironic if the ink they are using has a higher chance to cause cancer than the cigarette.
Neat.
I’m a smoker. Quitting is no easy. I still limit myself to 3 a day. More if I am socializing. Lots of days I get by with 1… And sometimes none. I think the full quit will be soon.
When I began smoking it was $4 (CAD) per 25-pack. Now I live in Europe and it is €10.50 for 20. Labels and warnings might not work on me, but new smokers might be turned off.
from experience with my social circle, higher prices don’t cause people to quit, they just cause people to save that money elsewhere and reduces their quality of life further, causing them to smoke more.
Congrats on smoking less. You’ll thank yourself later when you’re of the age when people start having artery problems.
Consider asking for a prescription if you need a little help stopping completely. nicotine patch and similar are included in health insurances in various places.
They are included here. I am not sure if I need them. I am 40-ish so this is certainly a good time to stop… I did stop for over a year at one point and it wasn’t too painful.
I was a pack-a-day smoker for nearly 20 years, started trying e-cigarettes in 2014, finally found a setup that worked for me in 2016 and landed in the nebulous in-between phase until last year. My ex-wife was a smoker, and then I wanted to relive my wild 20s after the divorce, and then I ended up with smokers for coworkers.
Ultimately, it was a financial call for me. When I could get cartons for $20, the impetus wasn’t there. But $6 per pack started being too much, and I think they’re now $8 for the cheapest that aren’t rolled sawdust. It sucks to pay those prices as a smoker, but every price increase makes that group smaller. I’d like to quit vaping at some point, as well, but at $8 a month, it’s not a high priority.
You might find this interesting.
Like the problem is we just haven’t noticed yet.
anybody else notice a sharp rise in smoking among young people lately? I know it’s anecdotal but I’m Gen Z and I’ve noticed more and more of my friends getting into smoking. It feels like as a kid everyone’s parents (and every millenial’s parents) were telling us not to smoke and apparently it just didn’t work. At work one of my coworkers just turned 21 and celebrated her 7th year of smoking by buying her first pack. Another one of my friends is 22 and always has to step out of hangouts to smoke.
it’s so disgusting and I feel like it would have been instilled in us better just like seatbelts were but I guess it just didn’t work.
I’m curious how much of it has to do with vaping and how much of it has to do with other factors like anti-smoking ads.
Ironically that looks kind of badass
