The federal government will toughen legislation aimed at discouraging young people from what is an apparent growing propensity to puff and pull on e-cigarettes, a habit known to most of them as vaping.
Among other things, proposed new regulations will include more advertising restrictions on vaping, a new public education campaign aimed at young people, limits on where advertisements can be placed, limits on advertising content, limits on the display of vaping products in certain retail locations and health warning messages on ads.
Some anti-smoking advocates say proposed regulations may not go far enough and may take too much time to implement. (cbc.ca)
“I am deeply concerned about recent reports that youth vaping is on the rise,” Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said in a statement in making the announcement.
“This includes stories coming out of schools across Canada, and emerging data suggesting that young Canadians are taking up vaping at an alarming rate.”
Health Canada says other measures are also being considered, including an examination of what role flavours play in vaping, nicotine concentration and product design.
The Tobacco and Vaping Products Act already prohibits the sales of vaping products to people under 18 and the new proposals will require a 45-day public consultation period.
Some non-smoking advocates say the proposals do not go far enough.
“There should be a complete ban on e-cigarette advertising on TV and radio,” Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society, told CBC News.
Some researchers say e-cigarettes are a possible threat to the success of reducing youth smoking rates in Canada. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)
Calling the current situation a “crisis,” Neil Collishaw, research director at Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, told the CBC he was concerned that the new regulations could take up to two years to bring into effect because of this fall’s federal election.
“What we would like to see is parliamentarians all getting together and passing an amendment” that would treat e-cigarettes more like tobacco products with prohibitions on almost all advertising,” he says.
All provinces except Alberta and Saskatchewan currently have e-cigarette legislation.
Ontario recently weakened its legislation, allowing ads in convenience stores and gas stations.
With files from CBC. Global News, CTV, Huffington Post
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