Canada is poised to become the first country in the world to require a warning to be printed on every cigarette.
The move is based on Canada’s mandate to include graphic warnings for photos on tobacco packaging, a policy that set the stage for an international trend when it was introduced two decades ago.
“We have to deal with fears that these reports may have lost their novelty, and we are somewhat concerned that they may have lost their impact,” Mental Health and Addiction Minister Caroline Bennett told a news conference on Friday.
“Adding health warnings to individual tobacco products will help ensure that these key messages reach people, including young people, who often have access to cigarettes one by one in social situations, bypassing the information printed on the packaging.
The consultation period on the proposed change was due to begin on Saturday, and the government expected the changes to take effect in the second half of 2023.
Although the exact messages printed on the cigarettes may change, Bennett said the current proposal is “Poison in every sip.”
Bennett also unveiled extended warnings about cigarette packs, which include a longer list of health effects of smoking, including stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, diabetes and peripheral vascular disease.
Canada has required warnings for photos since the beginning of the millennium, but the images have not been updated in a decade.
Rob Cunningham, a senior political analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society, said he hoped warnings printed directly on cigarettes would become popular internationally, just like package warnings.
“This will set a world precedent,” he said, adding that no other country had applied such provisions. He hoped the warning would make a real difference.
“It’s a warning you just can’t ignore,” Cunningham said. “It will reach every smoker, with every sip.”
The move was also praised by Jeffrey Fong, a professor at the University of Waterloo and lead researcher at the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project.
“This is a really potentially powerful intervention that will increase the impact of health warnings,” Fong said.
The percentage of smoking has been steadily declining over the years. The latest Statistics from Canada, released last month, shows that 10% of Canadians report smoking regularly. The government is aiming to halve that percentage by 2035.
StatCan noted that approximately 11% of Canadians aged 20 and over report current smokers, compared with only 4% of people aged 15 to 19.
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