A new set of graphic health warnings is beginning to appear on cigarette packages across Canada, with retailers required to carry only packages displaying the updated messages by Aug. 1.
The warnings include photographs showing the health effects of smoking, along with new messages printed inside packages and directly on individual cigarettes.
Health Canada requires warnings to cover at least 75 per cent of the main display area on most tobacco packages and regularly rotates the messages to prevent them from losing their impact.
Images highlight health effects
The new series includes 13 warnings on the outside of cigarette packages.
Images feature a person affected by mouth cancer, a baby exposed to second-hand smoke and a patient following heart surgery. The rotation also includes Canada’s first cigarette-package warning focused on colon cancer.
The warnings appear in English on one side of the package and French on the other.
Six new messages are also being printed directly on cigarettes, including warnings about toxic tobacco smoke and the effects of cigarettes on children and the liver.
Cancer society supports new rotation
Canadian Cancer Society senior policy analyst Rob Cunningham said graphic warnings help make the consequences of smoking more noticeable and memorable.
“These health warnings work, they have been shown to reduce smoking,” Cunningham said in a release.
“Graphic images cut through the noise. They show the devastating health effects of tobacco instantly, making the warnings far more impactful and more memorable.”
Cunningham said rotating the messages is important because people can become accustomed to warnings that remain unchanged for long periods.
Canada first introduced images in 2001
Canada became the first country to require pictures on cigarette-package warnings in 2001.
Additional sets were introduced in 2012 and 2024, with the latest rotation marking the fourth series of graphic warnings.
Canada also became the first country to require health warnings directly on individual cigarettes, with the measure beginning to appear on products in 2024. Australia followed with a similar requirement in 2025.
Goal to reduce tobacco use
The Canadian Cancer Society said package and cigarette warnings can discourage tobacco use among both adults and young people while making the products less appealing.
The organization says tobacco use remains Canada’s leading preventable cause of disease and death.
Health Canada has set a goal of reducing tobacco use to less than five per cent of the population by 2035.