Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press Published Friday, June 10, 2022 2:33 PM EDT Last Updated on Friday, June 10, 2022 4:18 PM EDT
Canada is about to become the first country in the world to demand that a warning be printed on every cigarette.
The measure is based on Canada’s mandate to include graphic warnings with photos on the packaging of tobacco products, an innovative policy that started an international trend when it was introduced two decades ago.
“We have to address the concern that these messages may have lost their novelty and to some extent we are concerned that they have also lost their impact,” Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett told a news conference on Friday. .
“Adding health warnings about individual tobacco products will help ensure that these essential messages reach people, including young people who often access cigarettes one by one in social situations, by avoiding the information printed on a package.”
A consultation period for the proposed change will begin on Saturday and the government expects the changes to take effect in the second half of 2023.
While the exact message printed on cigarettes could change, Bennett said the current proposition is, “Poison every breath.”
Bennett also revealed extended warnings for cigarette packs that include a longer list of effects on smoking health, such as stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, diabetes, and peripheral vascular disease.
Canada has required photographic warnings since the turn of the millennium, but the images have not been updated in a decade.
Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society, said he expects warnings printed directly on cigarettes to become popular internationally, as did package warnings.
“This will set a global precedent,” Cunningham said, adding that no other country has implemented such regulations. He hopes the warning will make a real difference.
“It’s a warning you just can’t ignore,” Cunningham said. “It will reach all smokers, with every blow.”
The measure was also praised by Geoffrey Fong, a professor at the University of Waterloo and a senior researcher on the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project.
“This is a very potentially powerful intervention that will improve the impact of health warnings,” Fong said.
Smoking rates have been steadily declining over the years. The latest statistics from Statistics Canada, released last month, show that 10% of Canadians reported smoking regularly. The government wants to halve that rate by 2035.
StatCan noted that approximately 11 per cent of Canadians aged 20 and over reported being current smokers, compared to only four per cent of people aged 15 to 19.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 10, 2022.