‘Tobacco smoke harms children’, Canada becomes 1st country to put health warning on each cigarette

Canada on Wednesday announced that health warnings will be directly printed on each individual cigarette. These messages which include, “Tobacco smoke harms children”, Cigarettes are a cause of leukemia", and “Poison is in every puff” will be written in both English and French, according to a report published by CNN. 

In an official statement, the Canadian health officials said, “The new Tobacco Products Appearance, Packaging, and Labelling Regulations will be part of the Government of Canada's continued efforts to help adults who smoke to quit, to protect youth and non-tobacco users from nicotine addiction, and to further reduce the appeal of tobacco.”

With this announcement, Canada becomes the first country in the world to do so on ‘World No Tobacco Day’. The regulation is a part of Canada's goal of reducing tobacco consumption to less than 5% by 2035. 

The health officials stated that the labels on every cigarette will make it ‘virtually impossible’ for smokers to escape warnings. 

Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst at the Canadian Cancer Society said the new rule is a world precedent-setting measure that will reach every person who smokes with every puff, CNN reported. 

It would be supplemented by additional steps aimed at reducing the number of smokers in the country, such as boosting health messaging on tobacco product packages, the health officials said. 

Meanwhile, Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos in an official statement said that tobacco use continues to be one of Canada's most significant public health problems, and is the country's leading preventable cause of disease and premature death, as per ANI reports citing CNN. 

“Our government is using every evidence-based tool at our disposal to help protect the health of Canadians, especially young people,” the minister added. 

The new rules take effect on August 1, but will be phased in: retailers selling tobacco product packages must include the new warnings by the end of April 2024; king-size cigarettes must include the individual warnings by the end of July 2024, followed by regular-sized cigarettes and other products by the end of April 2025. 

(With ANI inputs)