Quit and Cancer Council have welcomed a range of mandatory changes to tobacco products which came into effect on April 1, as Australia becomes just the second country in the world after Canada to introduce health warnings on individual cigarette sticks.
These changes come alongside the introduction of 10 new Graphic Health Warnings on cigarette packs and 10 new Health Promotion Inserts inside packs, providing information on the benefits of quitting and cessation support services such as quit.org.au and Quitline. A phased ban on menthol in cigarettes has also began.
Compared to a standard cigarette, a cigarette with a health warning better conveys the risks and harms of smoking, in a way that cannot be avoided as the wording is printed on the filter which doesn’t burn down as someone smokes.
Health warnings on individual Australian cigarettes will include phrases such as “CAUSES 16 CANCERS”, “DAMAGES YOUR LUNGS” and “DAMAGES DNA”.
Professor Sarah Durkin, Director of Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer at Cancer Council Victoria commented on why updated imagery was also important.
“Graphic Health Warnings have long been effective in increasing knowledge about the harms of smoking, preventing smoking uptake and encouraging people who smoke to quit. But evidence has shown that the effectiveness of the current warnings has decreased over time, as people have become accustomed to seeing the images.”
