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In Canada, every puff of smoke will serve as a warning

By 2024, Canada will be the first country in the world to mandate that every cigarette sold in the country carry a health warning on the white paper surrounding the filter. The Canadian government hopes this will advance its objective of achieving a smoking rate of less than 5% by 2035 in this, the second largest country in the world.

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Images: Health Canada

Between April 2024 and April 2025, not only cigarettes, but all tobacco products such as little cigars and cigarette tubes will have to carry these new warnings on the paper covering the filter.

These improvements in the fight against smoking will be supplemented by other measures, including the periodic rotation of new health messages that must appear on the packaging.

In Switzerland, the Law on Tobacco Products (LTP) coming into force only in 2024, warnings dating back to 2010 might not be updated until 2026, which is regrettable and incomprehensible from the point of view of protecting young people. The Swiss Parliament is still failing to align with international standards.

However, the positive effect of health warnings on the intention to quit is well established, as the Health Canada press release points out.

In 1989, Canada was the first country to require cigarette manufacturers to display a health warning, which today must cover at least 75% of the two largest sides of the packet. In 2019, it then imposed a neutral pack, i.e. with no logo or colour other than dull brown.

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Images: Health Canada

Australia was the first country to adopt a plain pack in 2012. France and the United Kingdom imposed it in 2017, and Ireland, Norway, and New Zealand followed in 2018.

Today, according to Health Canada figures, 13% of the population uses tobacco, while in 2019 the smoking rate was still 17%. Nevertheless, the authorities point out that smoking continues to kill 48,000 people a year in Canada.

Health Canada, Canada's public health authority, made the announcement on World No Tobacco Day 2023.

For more info

Health Canada press release. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/news/2023/05/canada-to-become-first-country-in-the-world-to-require-health-warnings-on-individual-cigarettes.html

Health Canada information sheet. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/news/2023/05/tobacco-products-appearance-packaging-and-labelling-regulations.html

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