Canada is set to become the first country in the world to require tobacco companies to print health-warning labels directly on individual cigarettes in a bid to make more Canadians quit smoking.
Mental Health and Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett announced on May 31 that the new health-warning requirements will come into effect on Aug. 1.
“Labelling the tipping paper of individual cigarettes, little cigars, tubes, and other tobacco products will make it virtually impossible to avoid health warnings altogether,” said a May 31 release from Health Canada.
Although the rule comes into force at the beginning of August, Health Canada says the federal government will implement the new regulations through a “phased approach that will see most measures on the Canadian market within the year” and that retailers will be carrying tobacco products featuring the new labelled cigarettes by the end of April 2024….