Beginning today (April 1), Australia’s new cigarette packaging laws have gone into effect, including that each individual cigarette has a health warning printed on it. Warning phrases include “causes 16 cancers,” “damages your lungs,” and “poisons in every puff.” Canada is the only other country in the world to have such requirements.
The new laws that went into effect also introduced 10 new graphic health warnings that will be printed on tobacco packaging as well as 10 new inserts that will be placed inside packaging, providing information on the benefits of quitting smoking.
Sarah Durkin from the Cancer Council said that the graphic health warnings on tobacco packaging have proven effective in educating Australians about the harms of smoking but that the effectiveness of the warnings has decreased over time.
“We also have new scientific information that extends our knowledge of the health effects of tobacco use,” she said. “The new graphic health warnings feature some of these harms of smoking that people may not be aware of, such as diabetes, erectile dysfunction, cervical cancer, DNA damage, and the impact of second-hand smoke on children’s lung capacity.”