Health warnings to be put on individual cigarettes in latest bid to stop smoking in Canada
The move could see the country be the first in the world to stick a label on every single ciggie to curb tobacco use
CANADA could become the first country in the world to have individual health warnings printed on every cigarette.
The government is looking into new regulations that would force tobacco companies to apply labels not just on the packets but also on the fags themselves.
The new labels would be variations of messaging in the along the lines of “smoking causes cancer”, news reports.
Supporters of the move hope that labelling every single ciggy would put more Canadians off smoking.
A government document stated: “There is recent but limited research showing that health warnings placed directly on a product, such as cigarettes, could be effective in making the product less appealing to users.”
The government also hopes the policy would make it easier for authorities to track down illegal fags with contraband tobacco considered one of the commonwealth country’s most pressing problems.
Canadians who buy cigarettes legally pay between £40 and £65 for a carton of 200 cigarettes taxed by the government.
But illegally produced cartons of the same number of fags can be picked up on the black market for just over a tenner.
Every year, the government loses tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues due to the dodgy smokes.
Illicit tobacco is one of the major sources of funding for organised crime in Canada, according to law enforcement officials.
Canada is considering several new ways to put citizens off smoking.
Another option being considered is mandating that new warning labels are printed each year to keep the message “fresh”.
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Tobacco products in the country have had the same warnings on their packaging since 2012.
The government is also thinking of requiring labels for tobacco products that do not currently have them, including water pipe and heated tobacco products.
According to figures released by the government 45,000 Canadians die of smoking-related problems every year.
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