“POISON IN EVERY PUFF”: CANADA WILL REQUIRE A PRINTED WARNING ON EVERY CIGARETTE

Sun 12 June 2022:

Canada is on track to become the first country in the world to include health warnings on individual cigarettes. Two decades ago, the country started a worldwide trend by mandating the addition of graphic picture warnings on tobacco product packaging.

“We need to address the concern that these messages may have lost their novelty, and to an extent, we worry that they may have lost their impact as well,” said Canadian Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Carolyn Bennett.

“Adding health warnings on individual tobacco products will help ensure that these essential messages reach people, including the youth who often access cigarettes one at a time in social situations, sidestepping the information printed on a package.”

Planning to introduce the change during the second half of 2023, Bennett noted that the current proposal is: “Poison in every puff”.

Welcoming the proposal, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada’s CEO Doug Roth told public broadcaster CBC that “Canada will now have the strongest health warning regime for cigarettes in the world.”

“These are deadly products, and these measures will help to further reduce their appeal to youth and non-smokers, as well as to support current smokers in their efforts to quit.”

Meanwhile, Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst at the Canadian Cancer Society said, “This is going to set a world precedent. It’s a warning that you simply cannot ignore. It’s going to reach every smoker, with every puff.”

In 2020, over four million Canadians were daily or occasional smokers, according to Statistics Canada.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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