Best practices in tobacco control: regulation of tobacco products: Canada report / WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation

Overview

The Canadian tobacco regulatory regime, identified as one of the best by WHO and the WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation (TobReg), incorporates mandatory periodic emissions testing, emissions disclosure based on all characteristics of the tobacco product, and labelling requirements which mandate large, clear health warnings and informational messages. And most noteworthy, this best practice shows how Canada, in an effort to promote public health goals, creatively maneuvered around the limitations of the ISO smoking machine testing protocol by amending their regulation to require manufacturers to additionally test using a more intense testing regimen. Henceforth, this Canadian intense testing regimen, has since been adopted by the TobReg in its first recommendation: Guiding principles for the development of tobacco product research and testing capacity and proposed protocols for the initiation of tobacco product testing. WHO hopes that Member States will glean valuable insights and inspiration from Canada’s experience.