Canadian Government Intends to Attack Smoking Graphically

Extract

Canadian cigarette smokers may soon get a graphic reminder of the effects of their habit. Legislation recently approved by the Canadian House of Commons should pave the way for pictures of diseased lungs and rotted teeth to appear on a large number of cigarette packages sold in Canada by the end of this year.

Final approval of the law is expected this summer in spite of possible tobacco company litigation. “[The companies’] appeals record against cigarette package warnings were unsuccessful in the 1990s, with the Supreme Court of Canada rejecting their 1993 appeal by a vote of 9-0,” said Rob Cunningham of the Public Issues Office of the Canadian Cancer Society.

Cunningham noted that a draft version of the regulations published April 1 was taken up and approved without amendment by the House of Commons on May 1.

The new law would require that one of 16 smoking deterrent images and messages cover 60% of the front panel of cigarette packages sold in Canada. Smoking cessation and disease information would appear elsewhere on the package or as inserts with the cigarettes.