Shoppers are already noticing some cigarettes individually labelled with health warnings in stores — and pretty soon, it will be the standard.
The Canadian regulation, the first of its kind in the world, will require all cigarette manufacturers to label individual smokes with written, bilingual warnings. The deadline for king-size cigarettes, the most common size sold in Canada, is Tuesday.
“It’s a health measure that is innovative, that reaches the entire smoking population,” Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society, told the Star.
“It costs nothing, and it is going to reduce smoking and cancer — so it’s a winner,” he continued. “It’s simply a warning that cannot be ignored … For someone (on) a smoke break, that warning is going to be there for the entire five minutes.”
For now, packs will contain the following six bilingual warnings: “Poison in every puff,” “Cigarettes damage your organs,” “Cigarettes cause cancer,” “Tobacco smoke harms children,” “Cigarettes cause impotence” and “Cigarettes cause leukemia.”
These will be rotated for another set of six warnings every two years, according to Health Canada, keeping the messages “impactful, noticeable and memorable.” They will be displayed “directly on individual cigarettes, little cigars that have tipping paper and tubes.”
Individually labelled smokes are already appearing in stores as cigarette companies and manufacturers make the transition, Cunningham explained.