TORONTO — “Poison in every puff.” “Cigarettes cause impotence.” “Tobacco smoke harms children.”
Those are the warnings that smokers in Canada will soon find on every single cigarette they light, as the country sets into motion a plan requiring tobacco companies to print health warnings directly onto cigarette filters.
The labels will appear in English and French, Canada’s official languages, and are intended to blunt the allure of smoking among young people, adults looking to quit and those addicted to nicotine, the government said on Wednesday.
Canada is a global leader in targeting tobacco use through health hazard labels. Graphic illustrations of some of the health outcomes of smoking, such as images of cancerous tumors or decaying teeth, have appeared on cigarette boxes in Canada since 2001, when it became the first country to feature depictions of serious smoking-related illnesses on packaging. It was also the first country to ban smoking on its domestic flights, followed by international flights on Canadian airlines in 1994.
Smoking is on the decline in Canada, and the country’s health services aim to reduce it even further. Currently, 10.2 percent of people over age 15 smoke cigarettes, and the government’s goal is to reduce that to less than 5 percent by 2035.
Within the next year, smokers will begin to see the new labels printed on their individual cigarettes, as well as an updated warning label on cigarette boxes. » | Vjosa Isai | Wednesday, May 31, 2023
This is totally over-the-top legislation! As if smokers don't already know that smoking can harm their health. They've been preached to for long enough.
But really, does this legislation make a whole lot of sense when the smoking of cannabis has already been legalised in the country? So clearly, you can smoke a joint without the authorities getting their knickers in a twist, but don't, for God's sake, get the idea of lighting a plain old-fashioned cigarette! The world is truly going crazy. (And I write as a non-smoker. I haven't smoked a cigarette since April 10th 2022.) Reading about nonsense legislation like this is enough to drive one to start smoking again. Just for the sheer hell of it. – © Mark Alexander
