Canada unveils larger, more graphic anti-smoking labels(英文中國郵報)
發佈日期： 2011-10-03
Canada unveils larger, more graphic anti-smoking labels
OTTAWA--Canada unveiled some of the world’s largest and most graphic anti-smoking labels on Tuesday on the grounds that smokers were starting to ignore existing warnings on cigarette packs.
The new labels have to cover 75 percent of the front and back of each pack of cigarettes and small cigars, and will be mandatory by the middle of next year. Existing anti-smoking labels cover 50 percent of a pack.
The 16 labels include pictures of a woman dying of lung cancer in a hospital bed, a man with a hole in this throat after surgery for smoking-related larynx cancer, and a close-up shot of a diseased and cancerous tongue.
Tobacco manufacturers and importers will have until March 21 2012 to switch over to the new labels and retailers must only carry packs with the bigger warnings by June 19.
The adult smoking rate in Canada fell to a record low 17 percent in 2010 from 24 percent in 2000, a year before the first warning labels started to appear.
The Canadian Public Health Association welcomed the move, while noting that smoking was “the single most preventable cause of disease, disability and premature death in Canada.”
In the United States, several large tobacco companies are suing the federal Food and Drug Administration for requiring more graphic health warnings on packages no later than September 2012. The labels variously include pictures of bodies, diseased lungs and rotting teeth.
