Canada will soon join several other nations in the effort to reduce smoking.
New sweeping changes to the Tobacco Act which passed Parliament, will come into force in the near future will give Health Canada powers to mandate so-called “plain packaging” of cigarette cartons, and regulate electronic cigarettes known as e-cigarettes or vaping.
Rob Cunningham applauds the new regulations but adds, they could still be stricter. He is the Senior Policy Analyst, Canadian Cancer Society. I reached by mobile phone at a busy airport.
ListenThe new amendments known as Bill S-5, have raised the ire of tobacco companies, and of convenience store owners who insist that packaging does not influence people to begin smoking.
2017: Rob Cunningham applauds the government moves to impose further restrictions on tobacco and regulate “vaping”. Photo: Adrian Wyld-CP
Part 2 of this enactment amends the Non-smokers’ Health Act to regulate the use of vaping products in the federal workplace and on certain modes of transportation.
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While the bill does not specifically detail style and layout of plain packaging, Health Canada will now be studying standardisation of package colour, and font, as well as prohibitions of logos and promotional information.
Australia first followed Canada’s lead using photos of cancer victims on cigarette packages, (left) then went for standardised plain packaging, eliminating fancy colours, and company logos. Photo: David Hammond- University of Waterloo
The law also legalises vaping (not the case previously) but bans sale of vaping products to minors and generally treats it like tobacco smoking. Cannabis flavour and so-called “confectionary” flavours aimed at attracting young people will also be banned. In legalising vaping, the intent is to give smokers who can’t quit, a less harmful option.
Vaping (using e-cigarettes), will now also be more strictly controlled Photo> Frank Franklin II- AP
However, promotional claims such as health benefits of switching to vaping from tobacco will also be strictly limited and controlled.
With the measures, the government hopes to reduce the percentage of smokers from the current 15 per cent of the population, to 5 per cent by 2030.
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