Canada prepares to put health warnings on cigarettes

Having pioneered graphic warnings on every pack in 2001, Canada is set to follow suit with health warnings on every cigarette. A 75-day preliminary consultation on this topic began on June 11.

The idea of putting health warnings on cigarettes themselves was first floated in the United Kingdom, but Canada is likely to be the first country to introduce this new measure to protect smokers. A consultation on introducing such warnings was launched on June 11 for a period of 75 days. Implementation of these warnings on cigarettes is expected to be effective by mid-2023. Canadian authorities will use this opportunity to expand the range of textual and graphic health messages on cigarette packages, which have not been changed for ten years.

A world first in the field of health warnings

Canada had already been a pioneer in 2001, by introducing graphic health warnings on cigarette packages, a measure subsequently adopted by many countries. It is also one of the first countries to have introduced standardized plain packaging in 2019, after Australia, France and the United Kingdom. As the deterrent effect of these measures on smokers seems to fade over time, these health messages should be regularly rotated, as suggested in Article 11.1b of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) as early as 2004.

The inclusion of health messages on cigarettes should help to counter the strategies used by smokers to hide packets and their warnings, recently highlighted in a study[1]. It should also facilitate the dissemination of these messages to young smokers, who do not buy packs but are offered individual cigarettes. Finally, it will remind every smoker, particularly the least educated among them, of essential prevention messages. With this new measure, Canada will be the country that will offer the most comprehensive range of health warnings. While Rothmans Benson & Hedges, the Canadian subsidiary of Philip Morris International, has already expressed skepticism about the usefulness of such a measure, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International have not yet expressed their views on the subject.[2].

A measure that contributes to the denormalization of tobacco

The idea of health messages on cigarettes is not entirely new, having already been put to Margaret Thatcher in 1979.[3]Canada itself has been working on this issue for many years, and had undertaken an initial consultation on the subject between October 2018 and January 2021.[4]Australia and Scotland have also started to think about this same theme.

Although smoking prevalence is now only 13,% in Canada, the country still deplores 48,000 annual deaths linked to smoking, which remains the leading cause of preventable premature mortality and represents 47,% of health costs linked to substance use.[5]. Canada, however, intends to achieve its objective of a Tobacco-Free Generation, i.e. fewer than 5,100 smokers, by 2035. With this in mind, the federal government seems determined to continue the denormalization of all tobacco products.

Keywords: health warnings, graphic warnings, cigarettes, Canada, United Kingdom

©Tobacco Free Generation

M.F.

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[1] Pierce J, Kealey S, Leas E, et al. Effect of Graphic Warning Labels on Cigarette Pack–Hiding Behavior Among Smokers, The CASA Randomized Clinical Trial, JAMA Network Open. 2022;5(6):e2214242.[2] Ljunggren D, Shakil I, Canada, in a world first, proposes health warnings on individual cigarettes, Reuters, published June 11, 2022, accessed June 12, 2022.[3] Cigarette Stick Health Warnings Bill [HL], Volume 816: debated on Friday December 3, 2021, UK Parliament, published 3 December 2021, accessed 13 June 2022.[4] United Kingdom: soon a health warning on every cigarette?, Generation Without Tobacco, published June 17, 2021, consulted June 13, 2022.[5] Proposed Tobacco Product Packaging and Labeling Regulations, Government of Canada/Health Canada, June 2022.National Committee Against Smoking |