Canada is poised to become the first country in the world to require that a warning be printed on every cigarette.
The move builds on Canada's mandate to include graphic photo warnings on tobacco products' packaging -- a groundbreaking policy that started an international trend when it was introduced two decades ago.
鈥淲e need to address the concern that these messages may have lost their novelty, and to an extent we worry that they may have lost their impact as well,鈥 Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Carolyn Bennett said at a news conference Friday.
鈥淎dding health warnings on individual tobacco products will help ensure that these essential messages reach people, including the youth who often access cigarettes one at a time in social situations, sidestepping the information printed on a package.鈥
A consultation period for the proposed change is set to begin Saturday, and the government anticipates the changes coming into force in the latter half of 2023.
While the exact messaging printed on cigarettes could change, Bennett said the current proposal is: 鈥淧oison in every puff.鈥
Bennett also revealed expanded warnings for cigarette packages that include a longer list of smoking's health effects, including stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, diabetes, and peripheral vascular disease.
Canada has required the photo warnings since the turn of the millennium, but the images haven't been updated in a decade.
Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society, said he hopes the warnings printed directly on cigarettes become popular internationally, just like the package warnings did.
鈥淭his is going to set a world precedent,鈥 Cunningham said, adding no other country has implemented such regulations. He's hopeful that the warning will make a real difference.
鈥淚t's a warning that you simply cannot ignore,鈥 Cunningham said. 鈥淚t's going to reach every smoker, with every puff.鈥
The move also drew praise from Geoffrey Fong, a professor at the University of Waterloo and principal investigator with the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project.
鈥淭his is a really potentially powerful intervention that's going to enhance the impact of health warnings,鈥 Fong said.
Smoking rates have been steadily falling over the years. The latest data from Statistics Canada, released last month, shows 10 per cent of Canadians reported smoking regularly. The government is seeking to cut that rate in half by 2035.
StatCan noted that roughly 11 per cent of Canadians 20 and older reported being current smokers, compared to just four per cent of people aged 15 to 19.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2022.
A Canadian man who is trapped in Lebanon with his family says they are anxiously waiting for seats on a flight out of the country, as a barrage of Israeli airstrikes continues.
NDP House leader Peter Julian says there's more his party wants to do in Parliament before the next election, but if the current dysfunction continues it will become a factor in how they vote on a confidence measure.
A teen charged with the murder of another teen on Prince Edward Island last year has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter.
The jury tasked with determining if Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard sexually assaulted a young woman in northeastern Ontario eight years ago began deliberating Friday after nearly two weeks of testimony that saw the singer and his accuser give starkly different accounts of what happened.
A northeastern Ontario jury has started deliberating in Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard's sexual assault trial, we can now tell you what they weren't allowed to hear.
A 21-year-old Yazidi woman has been rescued from Gaza where she had been held captive by Hamas for years after being trafficked by ISIS.
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Prosecutors have charged a Michigan man with killing and dismembering a janitor he met on the dating app Grindr.
Police have arrested a Toronto woman in connection with three recent homicides and investigators say that they believe two of the victims may have been 鈥渞andomly targeted.鈥
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The owners of a North York condominium say they are facing a $70,000 special assessment to fix their building's parking garage. '$70,000 is a lot of money. It makes me very nervous and stressed out of nowhere for this huge debt to come in,' said Ligeng Guo.
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A judge ripped into a Colorado county clerk for her crimes and lies before sentencing her Thursday to nine years behind bars for a data-breach scheme spawned from the rampant false claims about voting machine fraud in the 2020 presidential race.
The U.S. and British militaries struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday, going after weapons systems, bases and other equipment belonging to the Iranian-backed rebels, U.S. officials confirmed.
Armed men belonging to the Gran Grif gang killed at least 70 people, including three infants, as they swept through a Haitian town shooting automatic rifles at residents, a spokesperson for the United Nations' Human Rights Office said on Friday.
Iran鈥檚 supreme leader on Friday praised the country鈥檚 recent missile strike on Israel and said it was ready to do it again if necessary, state TV reported.
Prosecutors have charged a Michigan man with killing and dismembering a janitor he met on the dating app Grindr.
UN peacekeepers are staying in their positions on Lebanon鈥檚 southern border despite Israel鈥檚 request to vacate some areas before it launched its ground operation against Hezbollah militants, the UN peacekeeping chief said Thursday.
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Defence Minister Bill Blair says Israel has the right to defend itself in 'a calibrated and proportional way' following Iran鈥檚 ballistic missile attack against Israel on Tuesday.
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Staff at Saskatoon's Royal University Hospital are calling for systemic changes just two days after its emergency room was more than three times above its capacity.
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Alphabet's Google is testing showing check marks next to certain companies on its search results, a company spokesperson said on Friday, in a move aimed at helping users identify verified sources and steer clear of fake websites.
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A group of classic car enthusiasts donated hundreds of blankets to nursing homes in Nova Scotia.
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What does New Westminster's t蓹m蓹sew虛tx史 Aquatic and Community Centre have in common with a historic 68,000-seat stadium in Beijing, an NFL stadium and the aquatics venue for the Paris Olympics? They've all been named among the world's most beautiful sports venues for 2024.
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A 21-year-old man who was charged with attempted murder in the shooting of a Toronto police officer this week was out on bail at the time of the alleged offence, court documents obtained by 麻豆传媒 Toronto show.
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A suspect who accused Thunder Bay police of being responsible for his throat injury actually hurt himself when he swallowed a large amount of drugs.
An outfitter in Kenora, Ont., and two individuals have been fined a total of $9,500 for bear hunting offences, including abandoning a bear they shot and using it as bait to hunt another bear.
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A mother in a community where the cost of living is one of the highest in the country says grocery prices are 'inhumane' and retailers are putting profits ahead of people鈥檚 basic human right to food.
A soccer game in England on Tuesday night drove a spike in online traffic across the Atlantic to a website launched by the Newfoundland and Labrador government.
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