Canada has unveiled what individual labels on cigarettes will look like and when they will come into effect.
Federal officials say Canada is set to be the first country in the world to apply labels to individual cigarettes.
The messaging will rotate and be written in English and French. The wording will range from warnings about harming children and damaging organs to causing impotence and leukemia. One example is “poison in every puff,” while an image released by Health Canada shows another example of “cigarettes damage your organs” in an all-caps black font on the tipping paper of each cigarette.
The label will also be included on “little cigars,” tubes and other tobacco products, the federal government said in a release. The strategy is meant to help Canada reach its goal of less than five per cent tobacco use by 2035, which currently sits at 13 per cent, according to Health Canada.
The regulations for the label will come into force on Aug. 1, 2023, but will be implemented in phases. King-size cigarettes will be the first to feature the new label and will be sold by retailers by the end of July 2024, followed by regular-size cigarettes and little cigars and tubes by the end of April 2025.
“Tobacco use continues to kill 48,000 Canadians each year. We are taking action by being the first country in the world to label individual cigarettes with health warning messages,” Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Carolyn Bennett said in a statement.
“This bold step will make health warning messages virtually unavoidable, and together with updated graphic images displayed on the package, will provide a real and startling reminder of the health consequences of smoking. We will continue to do whatever it takes to help more people in Canada, especially young people, live healthier, tobacco-free lives.”
Updated measures for cigarette packages also include the ability for the government to update the content of health-related messages, such as images or text, to reflect the “most up to date science and research available” without updating regulations.
The individual label idea was introduced in June 2022 and was followed by a public consultation process. At the time, Bennett said there is concern that warnings on cigarette packages that had been implemented since 2000 were losing their novelty and impact.
Health Canada estimates the health and economic costs linked to tobacco use in Canada were $12.3 billion in 2017. Direct health-care costs were $6.1 billion, which accounts for 47 per cent of all health-care costs associated with substance use, according to the agency.
— with files from the Canadian Press.