Now every packet of cigarettes in Canada will come with a direct warning. "Today, on World No Tobacco Day, the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister for Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, announced that Canada will soon require that health warnings be printed directly on individual cigarettes ─ becoming the first country in the world to take this approach," an official statement said.
Phrases like "Cigarettes cause cancer" and "Poison in every puff" will be seen on cigarettes with effect from August 1, BBC reported.
The Government of Canada's new Tobacco Products Appearance, Packaging and Labelling Regulations aims at helping youth from nicotine addiction. It aims for less than 5% tobacco use by 2035.
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"Labelling the tipping paper of individual cigarettes, little cigars, tubes, and other tobacco products will make it virtually impossible to avoid health warnings altogether," the government body says.
Retailers have been asked to sell packages with these messages by April 2024. King size cigarettes will be the first ones to feature these health warnings; regular size cigarettes and little cigars with tipping paper, and tubes will feature it by the end of April 2025.
To generate awareness around tobacco, World No Tobacco Day is observed on May 31 every year. The WHO initiative is aimed to draw global attention to the damaging effects of tobacco consumption.
