Canada to print health warnings on individual cigarettes in anti-smoking drive

06 Jun 2023 --- Canada will require health warnings on tobacco use to be printed on individual cigarettes from August this year, becoming the first country to target smoking reduction through advertisements on cigarette filters.

Retailers will carry tobacco product packages that feature the new health-related messages by the end of April 2024. King-size cigarettes will be the first to feature individual health warnings and will be sold by retailers by July 2024, followed by regular-size cigarettes and little cigars with tipping paper and tubes by the end of April 2025. 

Labeling the tipping paper of individual cigarettes, little cigars, tubes and other tobacco products will make it virtually impossible to avoid health warnings, stresses the government. 

Direct warnings
Tobacco remains the leading preventable cause of illness and premature death in Canada, killing approximately 48,000 Canadians annually, according to the Canadian government. 

“The new tobacco product appearance, packaging and labeling regulations announced on May 31, 2023, are part of Health Canada’s continued efforts to help adults who smoke to quit, to protect youth and non-tobacco users from nicotine addiction and to further reduce the appeal of tobacco,” a spokesperson at Health Canada and Public Health Agency of Canada, the government of Canada, tells PackagingInsights. 

The health warning will appear on the filter portion of the tobacco product.They assert that the new regulations strengthen and update health-related messages on tobacco product packages, extend the requirement for health-related messaging to all tobacco product packages, implement periodic rotation of messages and introduce health warnings directly on individual cigarettes, little cigars that have tipping paper and tubes.

Expanding reach 
When asked about the health implications of the ink needed for the printed warnings, the spokesperson explains that the message will appear on the filter portion of the tobacco product instead of on the cigarette itself.

Furthermore, the government’s spokesperson highlights that “tobacco smoke contains more than 70,000 chemical components and at least 250 of these chemicals are harmful to human health.”

“This measure increases the reach of health warnings, especially among youth who often access cigarettes one at a time in social situations and may not see the health hazards information printed on the package.”

The new measures consolidate all tobacco product labeling and packaging requirements in one set of regulations and support Canada’s Tobacco Strategy and its target of reaching less than 5% tobacco use by 2035.

King-size cigarettes will be the first to feature individual health warnings. They will be sold by retailers in Canada by the end of July 2024, followed by regular-size cigarettes and little cigars with tipping paper and tubes by the end of April 2025. 

Leading the way 
The list of health hazards and adverse health effects featured on tobacco product health warnings and health information messages has been expanded based on the latest scientific evidence, including stomach cancer, colon cancer, peripheral vascular disease and cervical cancer.

“While no other country has yet to introduce this requirement, several countries have announced that they are exploring a similar measure, including the UK, Australia and Norway,” says the spokesperson.

“By being the first country to introduce health warnings directly on individual cigarettes, Canada will be following the Guidelines for Implementation of Article 11 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) that call for Parties (Canada is a party to the FCTC) to consider the introduction of innovative measures such as this one.” 

By Natalie Schwertheim