Government tests warnings to smokers

OTTAWA — One image shows a woman’s torso with a cigarette being burned into her bladder through underwear.

Another depicts a man holding a colostomy bag, adding the words: “You may need to use a bag as a toilet for the rest of your life.”

There’s also a naked man holding a sign over his lower body that says: “Out of order.”

The federal government is testing graphic new warnings to wrap around cigarette packages, and the stark message is clear — smoking is bad and it can damage more than your lungs.

The proposed warnings, shown to focus groups across the country, are meant to reinforce what people already know about cigarettes and add information that’s less widely known.

Canadians reported that cigarette packages with graphic images and pointed health warnings are more effective than clichés or rhyming slogans.

The health warnings considered most effective flag types of ailments smoking can cause, such as colorectal and stomach cancers, as well as oral diseases and damage to blood vessels.

The warnings are accompanied by explicit images showing real people who are suffering from the problems.

Youth smokers and nonsmokers, as well as young adult and adult smokers were asked to assess mock-ups of 39 potential health warnings for cigarette packages and 11 potential taglines to accompany them, which include contact information for those wishing to seek help.

Focus groups were held last winter in Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver and Quebec City.

The government’s planned Tobacco Products Labelling Regulations currently require 16 rotating health warnings on packages of cigarettes and little cigars, though that number could change when the labelling regulations are amended.

Health Canada says messages depicting people with compelling stories about the impact of smoking are effective in reaching smokers.

The current health-related labels for tobacco products contain three health warning testimonials from ill people, and Health Canada is seeking additional testimonials to be included in the new health-related labels.

David Hammond, a professor in the school of public health at the University of Waterloo, described cigarette packages as “little travelling billboards” circulating in several million pockets.

“Smokers don’t really like the cute, rhyming taglines and I think part of it is they recognize this isn’t a jingle for a product you buy from the store,” he said. “This is a serious issue about their health and that’s why they tend to gravitate toward the straightforward, less jingly type of information.”

Hammond said it’s a positive sign that diseases less associated with smoking, such as colorectal cancer, might show up on packs.

“I think different warnings will connect to different groups.”