Tobacco Testing and Disclosure

Smoking puts you and others, who breathe in tobacco smoke, at risk of cardiovascular disease and other illnesses. In fact, more than 6,000 people experience illness and death that can be attributed to tobacco smoking each year in BC. Chronic conditions and deaths due to smoking are largely preventable (Source: Selected Vital Statistics and Health Status Indicators, Annual Report 2005; Table 42 "Smoking-Attributable Mortality in BC 2005").

Health Canada - Tobacco Reporting Regulation

• unburnt tobacco; and,
• in the smoke emanating from cigarettes

This information is collected under the authority of the federal Tobacco Reporting Regulations.  For more information, please visit Health Canada’s Tobacco Reporting Regulation website.

To request an electronic file with detailed information about the constituents and emissions of cigarettes sold in Canada in 2004, by brand, please go to Health Canada’s website Backgrounder on Constituents and Emissions Reported for Cigarettes Sold in Canada – 2004.

This site also provides information on how tests on cigarettes are conducted and the related test conditions.

BC Tobacco Testing and Disclosure Regulation

In 1998 British Columbia established the Tobacco Testinq and Disclosure Requlation under the authority of the Tobacco Control Act (formerly the Tobacco Sales Act), becoming the first jurisdiction in the world to require Canadian tobacco manufacturers to disclose on a brand-by-brand basis the contents of cigarettes and the levels of potentially toxic chemicals in tobacco smoke and to release the information to the public. This Regulation was repealed in November, 2007.

The Tobacco Testing and Disclosure Regulation required manufacturers:

• to submit annual reports to the Minister of Health identifying and listing, by brand, all ingredients and additives in every brand of cigarette or cigarette tobacco sold, offered for sale, distributed, advertised or promoted in British Columbia in that calendar year by the manufacturer (called the Additives and Ingredients Reports);
• to test both the smoke emanating from the filter end of the cigarette (mainstream smoke), and from the smoldering end of the cigarette (sidestream smoke). This smoke was tested for a number of smoke constituent chemicals and two physical characteristics (filter efficiency and pH);
• to submit annual tobacco Smoke Constituent Reports for brands of cigarettes having 1.25% or more share of the cigarettes sold in BC per annum. These reports had to be filed with the Minister of Health on or before April 30th of the following calendar year for brands having a 2% or greater share of the BC cigarette sales, and on or before July 31st of the following calendar year for brands having a 1.25% or greater share of the BC cigarette market.

In 2000, the Government of Canada introduced a similar regulation (Tobacco Reporting Regulations), requiring tobacco manufacturers and importers to provide Health Canada with information on cigarette and tobacco constituents and smoke emissions from burning cigarettes.  Since June 2006, Health Canada has made this information available to the public.

The BC Ministry of Health will continue to make available the public reports submitted by Canadian tobacco manufacturers for the period from 1999 to 2006, on request.

For More Information:
Tobacco Control Program
Ministry of Health
Government of British Columbia
1515 Blanshard Street, 4th Floor
Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3C8
Canada
Phone: (250) 952-1673
FAX: (250) 952-1570
E-mail: HLTH.TobaccoInfo@gov.bc.ca