Canada requires a warning to be printed on all cigarettes

Canada requires health warnings to be printed directly on individual cigarettes and cigars – a “World Premiere” In the fight against smoking, the government announced on Wednesday. Notifications will be entered in stages from 1^Eh in August and includes phrases such as “Poison in every loaf”, “Tobacco smoke harms children” and “Cigarettes cause cancer”.

Tobacco use continues to kill 48,000 Canadians each year, Mental Health and Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett said in a statement, stressing that Canada “First country in the world” To implement such a measure. A similar bill was discussed in the British Parliament in 2022, but to no avail.

“With this bold move, health warnings will be virtually unavoidable and there will be a stark reminder of the health consequences of smoking, along with updated on-pack imagery.”“, the minister said.

Reduce the number of smokers to 5% of the population

To justify the measure, the Canadian government says it has found that some young people, particularly susceptible to the risk of tobacco addiction, start smoking after receiving a single cigarette rather than a pack with health warnings.

In 2000, Canada was the first country to mandate graphic warnings on cigarette packages, including macabre images of diseased hearts and lungs, to raise awareness of the health risks associated with smoking.

Since then, smoking has been on the decline, and Ottawa aims to further reduce the number of smokers in the country to 5% of the population, or about 2 million people, by 2035, from about 13% currently. According to government data, almost half of the country’s health care costs are related to the use of psychoactive substances.