The move comes two decades after the country set the standard for graphic picture warnings on tobacco product packaging.
Digital Desk: At a when photo warnings on tobacco packages losing impact, Canada is all set to become the world’s first nation to introduce a printed warning on every cigarette.
The move comes two decades after the country set the standard for graphic picture warnings on tobacco product packaging.
"We need to address the concern that these messages have lost their freshness, and to some extent, we fear that they have lost their impact as well," Carolyn Bennett, the minister of mental health and addictions, said at a news conference on Friday.
"Notably health warnings on individual tobacco products will assist ensure that these important messages reach people, including youngsters, who frequently access cigarettes one at a time in social contexts, avoiding the information printed on the package."
On Saturday, a public consultation process for the planned move was set to begin, with the government hoping to have the changes in place by the second half of 2023.
'Poison with every puff,' claimed the minister of mental health and addictions, while the specific messaging could alter.
Bennett also discussed additional cigarette packaging warnings, such as a long list of health risks associated with smoking, such as stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, diabetes, and peripheral vascular disease.
Photo warnings were first established in Canada two decades ago, but the graphics haven't been changed in a decade.
Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society, expressed his hope that the cigarette warnings would become widely popular around the world, noting that no other country had enacted similar rules.
"It's a warning you can't ignore," Cunningham explained. "With every inhale, it will reach every smoker."
Geoffrey Fong, a professor at the University of Waterloo and principal investigator for the International Tobacco Control Approach Evaluation Project, praised the proposed policy.
"This is a potentially significant intervention that will boost the effectiveness of health warnings," Fong added.
It may be mentioned that smoking rates have been steadily declining over the years. The latest data from Statistics Canada, released last month, shows that 10% of Canadians reported smoking regularly. The government is seeking to cut that rate in half by 2035.
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