Canada plans to put health warnings on every cigarette and not just on their packets, which would be a first in the world.

A regulatory proposal for a new set of health warnings for tobacco products was unveiled on Friday by Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health Carolyn Bennett. It is already hailed by the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) and the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control.

This series of measures aims in particular to strengthen the health warnings on cigarette packages in Canada, but also provides for an individual warning, on each cigarette. A 75-day public comment period is planned.

Sensitized “with every puff”

"The obligation to affix warnings has not only been extended to products not subject to the stricter rules, such as the imposition of a minimum surface of 75% or the inclusion of images, but proposed changes will also ensure a greater variety of messages,” said the Coalition for Tobacco Control in a statement released Friday.

Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst at the CCS, said for his part, also in a press release, that this measure should be put in place as soon as possible. "By requiring a warning on every cigarette, smokers will be made aware of the harmful effects of tobacco with every puff," he said.

Another point raised by the SCC, the fact that these individual warnings will be an additional means of combating smuggling by identifying cigarettes intended for legal sale in the country.