New Health Canada Rules to Reduce Tobacco Use: Warnings to be Printed on Every Product

Health Canada announced this week that the new rules will come into effect on August 1. They are part of an effort to reduce the use of tobacco products to less than 5% of the population by 2035.

The agency said in a statement that once the new rules are fully implemented in April 2025, it will be “virtually impossible to avoid health warnings” on tobacco products.

The new requirement calls for warnings such as “Cigarettes cause cancer” or “Poison in every puff of smoke” to be printed on each individual tobacco product.

Warnings about the dangers of smoking are already mandatory on cigarette packages in Canada. Health Canada has announced that they are to be expanded by also printing additional warnings on the inside of packets and introducing new warning texts.

Canada’s Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Caroline Bennett, has announced that the use of tobacco products kills around 48,000 Canadians every year.

In 1965, the United States became the first country in the world to introduce health warnings on cigarette packets. Since then, the number of smokers has significantly decreased. Some studies, however, show that warnings do not deter people with severe nicotine addiction.