Early impacts of individual cigarette health warnings in Canada

Extract Health warnings on tobacco products are a key component of Health Canada's strategy to reduce smoking prevalence below 5% by 2035. [1] Previous research has found health warnings on tobacco products to be an effective public health tool based on surveys of tobaccos users, though no large-scale experimental or observational data exist. [2] In August 2023, the Tobacco Products Appearance, Packaging and Labelling Regulations were adopted in Canada through legislation. [3] The new regulations required the addition of health warning labels on individual cigarettes – a first in the world. The new individual cigarette warnings were implemented on king size cigarettes in 2024, which represent 69% of sales. [4] The impact of the individual cigarette warnings has not been evaluated and could inform other countries seeking to enhance their own tobacco warnings. We sought to evaluate whether new health warnings on individual cigarettes in Canada was associated with an early change in cigarette sales in the first six months after policy implementation.