Smoking :: Canada to ban misleading terms on tobacco products

The Canadian Minister of Health, Tony Clement, announced that proposed regulations to prohibit the use of “light” and “mild” terms were pre-published in Canada Gazette, Part I on August 4, 2007, for a 75 day comment period.

“Research has shown that many smokers incorrectly believe that smoking “light and mild” cigarettes is less harmful to their health,” said Minister Clement. “These proposed regulations would put in place a mandatory – and permanent – ban on these deceptive terms.”

The ban would prevent all tobacco manufacturers including importers from using these terms on the packaging of cigarettes and other tobacco products sold in Canada, such as bidis, kreteks, tobacco sticks, cigarette tobacco, cigarette papers, tubes and filters. More than half of all current smokers report smoking “light,” “mild,” “ultra light” and other similarly labelled products.

Research indicates that light and mild terms delay or keep some smokers from quitting and provide a false sense of security for a product that is as harmful as any other cigarette.

“Smoking any variety of cigarette poses a health risk,” said Minister Clement. “The publication of these proposed regulations is an important step to help protect Canadians from misleading information regarding their health and safety.”