CBC News Canadá, 14 de noviembre de 2012

Canada's tobacco warnings move up to 4th in world ranking
Australia's plain packages gain top score in Canadian Cancer Society report
CBC News
Posted: Nov 14, 2012 3:56 AM ET


Canada's world ranking for cigarette package warnings has risen to fourth in 2012 from 15th in 2010 after new Canadian warnings covering 75 per cent of cigarette packages were implemented, an international report finds.

The Canadian Cancer Society publishes a report every two years ranking cigarette health warnings. The latest report was released Wednesday at the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control conference in Seoul, South Korea.

Last year, Health Canada announced it would renew health-related labels on tobacco products, including cigarettes. Canada's warning labels now cover 75 per cent of the front and 75 per cent of the back of cigarette packages.

Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst for the Canadian Cancer Society, commended Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq for the new warnings, but also urged the federal government to follow Australia’s lead in implementing plain packaging.

Australia, which received the top ranking, has the largest warnings, covering 82.5 per cent of the package front and back of packages (75 per cent front, 90 per cent back), the group said. Australia also prohibits tobacco company colours, logo and design elements on the branded part of the package.



"Plain packaging would curb the industry’s use of the package as a promotional vehicle, would increase the effectiveness of package warnings, would curb package deception, and would decrease tobacco use," the report's authors said.

Cigarette makers challenged the Australian rules on the grounds that they violate intellectual property rights and devalued their trademarks. The country's highest court upheld the law in August.

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http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/11/13/cigarette-warning-labels-cancer-society.html