Canada will soon require health warnings to be placed on individual cigarettes and cigars in a renewed crackdown on smoking, the government has announced, reports RTE.
Messages that will be phased in from August 1 include lines such as “Poison in every puff”, “Tobacco smoke harms children” and “Cigarettes cause cancer”, reports RTE.
Drugs Secretary Carolyn Bennett said tobacco use continues to kill 48,000 Canadians each year.
The new labeling rule is a world first, she said, although the UK has considered a similar rule.
“This bold step will make health warning messages virtually unavoidable and, together with updated graphic images displayed on the package, will provide a real and startling reminder of the health consequences of smoking,” Ms Bennett said, reports RTE.
The Canadian government has found that some young people who are most at risk of tobacco addiction start smoking after being given a single cigarette rather than a packet of health warnings.
In 2000, Canada became the first country to mandate graphic health warnings – including images of diseased hearts and lungs – on cigarette packages to raise awareness of the health risks of tobacco use.
Smoking has declined over the past twenty years.
Canada aims to further reduce the number of smokers from the current 13% to 5% of the population by 2035 – around two million people, reports RTE.
According to the government, almost half of the country’s healthcare costs are related to substance use.
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