Canada becomes 1st country to have individual cigarette warnings
Global News
Individual king-size cigarettes will be the first to see individual warning labels, with regular-sized cigarettes to get the labelling come 2025.
Individual warning labels will now appear on some cigarettes sold in Canada, in what’s being touted as a world first.
The move comes less than a year after Health Canada regulations took effect requiring the individual labels, as part of an ongoing effort to curb smoking in the country.
As of Tuesday, manufacturers are required to ensure that warnings about harms such as cancer, impotence, leukemia and damage to organs are printed directly on individual cigarettes. Retailers, meanwhile, have until July 31 to sell only packages with those cigarettes.
The new requirements begin with king-size cigarettes, which the Canadian Cancer Society says is the most common size sold.
Regular-size cigarettes, those 70 to 73 millimetres in length, will have similar standards put in place in 2025 with manufacturers’ deadline set for Jan. 31, and retail stores on April 30 of next year.
“This measure is innovative,” Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society, which lobbies the federal government for better research, health care and protections, told Global News.
“It’s going to reach every smoker, every day with every cigarette, every puff, in every community.”
There are two sets of six warnings that will change in rotation and be fixed on the paper around the filter in English and French, including statements like “poison in every puff” or “tobacco smoke harms children.”