Canada to Become First Country to Promote Anti-Tobacco Message on Every Cigarette

13 Jun, 2022 19:37 IST|Sakshi Post

Smoking Kills - these words accompanied by a throat cancer graphic  image printed on the cigarette packs in India, warn the smokers about the harm it causes to the human body. 

Canada wants the smokers to take this message seriously. It will be the first country in the world to require that a warning be printed not just on the packet but on every cigarette too. Two decades ago, Canada set the trend by introducing the graphic photo warnings on tobacco products packaging, but the images have not been updated in a decade. 

“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,” the minister of mental health and addictions, Carolyn Bennett said.

“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,” she added. 

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The proposed changes are being deliberated upon as the Justin Trudeau government is planning the changes to come into effect in a year’s time. Carolyn Bennett said the proposed warning on cigarettes would be “Poison in every puff.”

The minister of mental health and addictions also talked about further warnings for cigarette packages, including a long list of smoking’s health effects such as stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, diabetes, and peripheral vascular disease.

Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society, said he hoped the warnings on cigarettes became popular worldwide. “This is going to set a world precedent,” Cunningham said, adding no other country has implemented such regulations.
 

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