Canada will be the first nation to start printing warnings directly onto individual cigarettes in a bid to deter young people from starting smoking and encourage others to quit.

The warnings, which will be in English and French, will include phrases like "Cigarettes cause cancer" and "Poison in every puff".

The new regulations go into effect on Tuesday.

Starting next year, Canadians will begin to see the new warning labels.

By July 2024 manufacturers will have to ensure the warnings are on all king-size cigarettes sold, and by April 2025 all regular-size cigarettes and little cigars with tipping paper and tubes must include the warnings.

The phrases will appear by the filter, including warnings about harming children, damaging organs and causing impotence and leukaemia.

In May, Health Canada said the new regulations "will make it virtually impossible to avoid health warnings" on tobacco products.

A second set of six phrases is expected to be printed on cigarettes in 2026.

The move is part of Canada's effort to reduce tobacco use to less than 5% by 2035 and follows a 75-day public consultation period that was launched last year.

Canada has required the printing of warning labels on cigarette packages since 1989 and in 2000 the country adopted pictorial warning requirements for tobacco product packages.

Health Canada said it plans to expand on warnings by printing additional warning labels inside the packages themselves, and introducing a new external warning messages.

Dr Robert Schwartz, of the University of Toronto, told BBC News it was good news that Canada was "moving forward with this innovation".

"Health warnings on individual cigarettes will likely push some people who smoke to make a quit attempt and may prevent some young people from starting to smoke," he said.

He also pointed to New Zealand, which has introduced very low nicotine cigarettes, as a leader in limiting the use of tobacco.

Mr Schwartz added: "These are the kinds of measures needed if we are serious about decreasing tobacco use."

Tobacco use continues to kill 48,000 Canadians each year.

"Tobacco use continues to be one of Canada's most significant public health problems, and is the country's leading preventable cause of disease and premature death in Canada," Public Services Minister Jean-Yves Duclos has previously said.

The Canadian Cancer Society, Canada's Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Lung Association have all praised the warning labels, saying they hope the measures will deter people, especially young people, from taking up smoking in the first place.

Cigarette smoking is widely regarded as a risk factor for lung cancer, heart disease and stroke.

In Canada, the rate of smokers aged 15 years or older is around 10%, according to a national 2021 Tobacco and Nicotine survey but electronic cigarette use has been on the rise.

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[–] 44 points 3 years ago (4 children)

Is this really necessary? Aren't most smokers, y'know, aware of the dangers of smoking by now? At some point I wonder if the warnings will get annoying enough that people will start to actively defy them out of spite instead of just passively ignoring them.

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  • [–] 42 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    “Health warnings on individual cigarettes will likely push some people who smoke to make a quit attempt and may prevent some young people from starting to smoke,” he said.

    The constant barrage of negativity and warnings may help keep kids from picking it up.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 years ago (5 children)

    Kids aren’t picking it up though. They’re going to vapes. Which are probably just as bad.

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  • [–] 17 points 3 years ago* (11 children)

    As I understand it, vapes are in theory not as bad, however the significant increase nicotine consumption far offsets any of that.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    The lack of any real controls on what goes into vape fluid is a concern. Also, breathing glycol into your lungs can’t be great for them. Studies seem to vary on that, but breathing anything but air isn’t good, just like drinking anything but water isn’t great (I’m big hypocrite on that one though) On the whole probably still not as bad as cigarettes.

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    [–] 41 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    I bet it would be a lot more effective if they just printed a penis down the length of every cigarette.

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  • [–] 40 points 3 years ago (5 children)

    Could someone smart enlighten me on why cigarettes continue to be allowed to be sold if we know that it causes cancer and costs the healthcare system millions (billions?) each year? I know we can't suddenly stop production overnight but can't they gradually putting a stricter ban on it until it's almost impossible to get? Is it smokers being too addicted? Is it tobacco lobby being too strong?

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  • [–] 76 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Because people will still smoke even if you ban cigarettes. Legalizing cigarettes actually provides a way for governments to regulate production and enforce safety standards, while getting a cut of the profits by sales tax.

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  • [–] 32 points 3 years ago

    Exactly, if you made them illegal you would open up a huge black market while making the products likely more dangerous. This would put further strain on our healthcare system, while decrease funding as the government would no longer be getting taxes on the sale of cigarettes.

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    [–] 37 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    My friend from Canada comes to visit and is a smoker. She brings packs with her and the entire pack is covered in warnings and pictures. I asked her if it bothers her and and she said, "I don't even notice them anymore." I highly doubt putting a warning on each cigarette is going to do anything.

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    [–] 31 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    "Poison in every Puff"

    Don't threaten me with a good time!

    Joking aside, I'm fairly ambivalent about this as a smoker. I hope it helps people avoid smoking but not sure how effective these warnings are.

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  • [–] 34 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Former smoker. The specific medical warnings are good imo. "Poison in every puff" is a little too goofy and my inner teenager reaction is just "hell yeah" hahaha. Which is funny, but also counterproductive.

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  • [–] 25 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    Completely and utterly pointless.

    This will not change anything. It won't convince any more people to quit.

    Smoking trends have been on the correct trajectory for decades now. I recall seeing a scientific study on Reddit a few years ago that stated in cases like this where people are faced with overwhelming evidence contrary to their current opinions or lifestyles, people tended to double and triple-down on their opinions and habits. The more push there was, the bigger the blow-back. People are stubborn even when it comes to their health.

    I have little doubt that the smoking trend will continue to drop, but wasting ever more resources with gimmicks like this might actually slow that downward trend some. Smokers know cigarettes are dangerous and cause cancer. Everyone does. It is beyond common knowledge at this point. Just let it all play out.

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    [–] 23 points 3 years ago (2 children)
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    [–] 18 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    If they ignored the warning on the pack, they're gonna ignore these too.

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    [–] 18 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    If the ink causes cancer...

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    [+] 11 points 3 years ago (8 children)
  • [–] 12 points 3 years ago

    NZ already did this, existing smokers above age 16 or something are grandfathered in, and then each year the minimum age increases until no one can buy smokes.

    Tobacco is one of those products that causes a lot of harm to people and those around them for little benefit. Other drugs can either be enjoyed alone, or easily be consumed in a different form that doesn't involve smoking and / or harming others.

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    [–] 10 points 3 years ago* (1 child)

    Let's add a warning label to every bottle of alcohol /s

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  • [–] 10 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    I think the next step should be that, while you're smoking the smoke writes "Smoking Cause Cancer" in Morse code.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    This is stupid. Every one knows that cigarettes are bad for you. Maybe fix the housing market, and opiate crisis before going after something like smoking, which plenty of productive people do.

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    [–] 8 points 3 years ago

    "Never knows best".

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  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago

    What about e-cigs and vape? They're the new hip and most young people are catering to that now some even rationalizing that they do it because it doesn't have nicotine and is therefore not dangerous.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago

    Denis Leary: It doesn't matter how big the warnings on the cigarettes are; you could have a black pack, with a skull and crossbones on the front, called TUMORS, and smokers would be around the block going, "I can't wait to get my hands on these f***ing things! I bet ya get a tumor as soon as you light up!"

    Funny enough tale is he actually quit a while ago, but there are a handful of folks that legitimatly don't give a damn how may warnings of what type you put on there. It seems a lot more practical to just continue to raise the tax on them to fund the health system detriments they pose.

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