‘It will reach every smoker’: Canadian Cancer Society applauds proposed warnings on cigarettes

Six new warnings will now be printed on filter of every cigarette across the country

CITYnews halifax \ Rafe Wright

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Canada will officially become the first country to print tobacco warnings directly on the cigarette.

The news came last week when Federal Minister of Health and Addictions Caroyln Bennett made a speech at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute,  announcing the government of Canada’s initiative to take action with proposed regulations on all individual tobacco items.

“While progress has been made in reducing tobacco use, it remains the number one cause of preventable death in Canada,” Bennett wrote in a tweet.

The proposed regulations will include six new warning labels that will be printed on the filter portion of each cigarette.

Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst for the Canadian Cancer Society, said he thinks it’ll be a warning that cannot be ignored.

“It will reach every smoker, with every cigarette, with every puff.”

Research from Health Canada and Canadian Cancer Society suggests these warnings will make cigarettes less appealing, said Cunningham.

“When smokers are out on smoke breaks, it’s going to prompt discussion,” he told CityNews Halifax.

“If they’re by themselves outside, they’re going to be there for five minutes with that message.”

In 2001, Canada became the first country in the world to require warning labels on all tobacco products. Since then, over 130 countries have followed course, and tobacco use in Canada has been on a steady decline.

In 1965, about 50 per cent of Canadians smoked. The most recent data from the Canadian Community Health Survey in 2020 shows only 13 per cent of Canadian adults consider themselves smokers.

“We have been making good progress,” said Cunnigham.

“Some people said when Nova Scotia banned flavoured (tobacco) products that smoking would increase. That has not been the case.”

Cigarette label warnings have not been updated in Canada since 2013. The new warnings will be updated after a two-year period to continuously send the message about dangers of smoking.

“We know how kids can ask their parents to quit,” he said.

“To have that message on the cigarette butts will provide more of an aid for children.”

The real concern facing Canadians with nicotine addictions now is e-cigarettes, said Cunnigham.

“We’re tremendously concerned about the  dramatic increase in youth vaping and among young adults,” he said.

E-cigarettes containing nicotine have been legal in Canada since May 2018, when the federal government passed Bill S-5, allowing the sale and distribution of e-cigarette products containing nicotine to adults.

The most recent Canadian Student Alcohol and Drug survey has found that youth vaping for high school students in grades 10 to 12 has tripled over a four year period, Cunningham said.

“That’s not supposed to be happening,” he said.

Although the numbers of youth vaping are increasing, measures are already being taken in some provinces with promising results, Cunningham added.

“P.E.I. has a minimum age for 21 for tobacco and e-cigarettes. I think that’s something that other provinces could do easily. It’s gone very well in P.E.I.”

N.S., N.B. and P.E.I. have also banned the sale of flavoured nicotine products. This is a step in the right direction, but more work is needed across the country, said Cunnigham.

“The use of nicotine amongst youth if you include tobacco and e-cigarettes has gone way up. We do not need another youth generation addicted to nicotine, and that’s what’s happening.”