A raised lump on someone’s tongue. A big toe that has turned greenish-black due to gangrene. A smoker’s baby in the hospital, hooked up to a breathing tube. These are some of 14 new graphics and photographs now beginning to appear on cigarette packages to warn about the harms related to smoking.
They highlight cancer of the tongue, stomach and neck, as well as gangrene, for the first time since Canada led the world in adopting the forceful approach to quitting smoking in 2001. Those early images were updated in 2012 with grim photos of patients. Plain packaging and requirements for brand names to be written in a standard white font came into effect in 2020.
The latest set of photo warnings also draw on other harms from smoking, including heart attacks, brain damage and death from stroke, as well as impotence due to reduced blood flow to the penis.
A Health Canada spokesperson said manufacturers must ensure they are on packages by Jan. 31 and retailers must stock packages by April 30.
The goal is to reduce smoking rates from around 10 percent to less than five percent by 2035 as part of a campaign that last year introduced printed warnings, in English and French, on every cigarette, one of which read “ poison in every puff.” “
Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst at the Canadian Cancer Society, said evidence from multiple studies around the world shows the effectiveness of graphic images on cigarette packages, a strategy dozens of countries have adopted.
“An image really has impact. It is more memorable, it is more noticeable, it transmits more. He tells the truth about cigarettes,” she said.
One particularly compelling photograph, showing an emaciated 42-year-old Edmonton woman who died of lung cancer, has been repeated since 2012 with a slightly different appearance, but even that doesn’t deter people from smoking, Cunningham said.
He called for a comprehensive approach that could include higher taxes on cigarettes, more funding for smoking cessation programs and a minimum age of 21 for buyers, as is the case in Prince Edward Island, instead of 18 or 19. years depending on the province. Cigarettes should also be sold in fewer outlets, she said.
“We do not sell cannabis in convenience stores or gas stations. “We shouldn’t sell cigarettes there.”
Another set of 14 photo warnings is expected to appear on cigarette packages in two years.
Lesley Mulgrew of Regina said she smoked her first cigarette when she was 14 on Dec. 22, 1995, when she found half a pack in her sister’s old winter jacket, hidden there for a friend.
“It was disgusting, really disgusting,” he said of what he considered a “disgusting habit” that ensnared several family members.
The cigarettes lasted six months and gave way to addiction three years later, when Mulgrew’s mother was killed by a drunk driver, he said.
“That night I smoked a pack and a half and I haven’t stopped smoking since.”
The 42-year-old has made multiple attempts to quit smoking due to the high cost of cigarettes and the numerous health risks that claimed the lives of her grandparents and an uncle.
“To me, smoking cigarettes is like having a best friend who is always trying to kill you,” he said.
The striking images on cigarette packs have not stopped him from smoking.
“I don’t even see them,” he said. “I don’t consciously look at the photo because I’m very used to them now. When they first put them on, yeah, you see all this gross stuff and it’s like, ewww.”
However, Mulgrew has been cutting out the powerful photos on the packages for when she’s ready to give up cigarettes.
“I have a little collage I made so I can look at them when I quit smoking,” Mulgrew said, adding that the latest photos have caught her attention – for now – and that she is particularly disturbed by the one showing a gangrenous man. Toe.
After trying nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), she now attends an online support group run by Lung Saskatchewan and is determined to kick the habit her grandfather warned her about when he suffered from emphysema before dying from a stroke. heart attack at 64 years old.
Dr. Peter Selby, director of the Nicotine Dependence Clinic at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, said the shocking images contain a lot of information about the harms that many people may not know, but They must be changed regularly. to have an impact.
The packages also include a toll-free phone number that connects people to smoking cessation services in their province, although utilization has declined in recent years, said Selby, who called for more programs because only about 10 per cent of people manage to quit smoking.
“Cigarettes are so addictive that relapse is more the norm that it takes a few kicks of the can before people have success,” he said.
Starting this month, Ontario nurses can receive additional training to prescribe medications to help people cope.
“We’re trying to reduce barriers to smoking cessation medications,” Selby said. “And we’re really trying to make sure that these drugs have broad coverage because for every two smokers that we can help quit, we’re going to save one of them from a smoking-related disease.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 16, 2024.