Canada to require health warnings on individual cigarettes
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Smokers in Canada will soon be reminded of the dangers of tobacco with every puff. The country, a pioneer in antismoking messaging, will be the first in the world to require manufacturers to print warnings directly on individual cigarettes, federal health officials said this week. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia’s war in Ukraine. ArrowRight Beginning next year, cigarettes sold in Canada will bear one of six messages in English and French. They include “TOBACCO HARMS CHILDREN,” “POISON IN EVERY PUFF” and “SMOKING CAUSES IMPOTENCE.” Health Canada announced the regulation Wednesday for World No Tobacco Day.
“This bold step will make health warning messages virtually unavoidable,” mental health and addictions minister Carolyn Bennett said. With updated graphic images on cigarette packages, she said in a statement, the labels “will provide a real and startling reminder of the health consequences of smoking.”
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Labels will be required on king-size cigarettes by April 30, 2024, and on all regular and other cigarettes by Jan. 21, 2025.
As part of recognizing #WorldNoTobaccoDay, Canada became the first in the world to require health warnings printed directly on individual cigarettes.
Learn more: https://t.co/BP3mtmF9s1 pic.twitter.com/kMOB5VOcsN — Health Canada and PHAC (@GovCanHealth) May 31, 2023
Around 48,000 people in Canada die as a result of tobacco use each year, according to Health Canada. That’s more than those who die as a result of alcohol, opioids, suicides, murders and traffic collisions combined. Smoking costs the economy $16.2 billion in a year, the Ottawa-based think tank Conference Board of Canada reported in 2017.
The country has a history of aggressive labeling against the harms of tobacco. In 2001, it was the first to require manufacturers to print graphic images of the physical damage wrought by smoking on the outside of cigarette packages.
One shows a skeletal bald woman lying in a bed with the words “This is what dying of lung cancer looks like.” Another shows a bearded man with a breathing tube protruding from his neck: “Throat cancer. It’s tough to swallow.”
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In 2019, Canada standardized cigarette width and length and required that all packages be an identical drab brown to avoid distraction from the health warnings.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, by contrast, didn’t require graphic warnings until 2020. The requirement has since been blocked by a federal judge.
The research on the effectiveness of such messages is mixed. Studies have shown that graphic images can help reinforce the public’s understanding of the health risks, but it’s far less clear that they affect an individual’s decision to start or stop smoking.
Health Canada estimates that 13 percent of the population smokes tobacco, down from 22.5 percent in 2001. The ministry aims to decrease usage to less than 5 percent by 2035.
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Source: The Washington Post
