Three tobacco control organizations in Canada are again calling on Yara Saks, their Minister of Physical and Mental Health and Addiction (Ya’ara Saks), to follow through on their promise to immediately remove flavored vape brands from the shelves.
According to Flory Doucas, director and spokesman for the Federation of the Flory Doucas Quebec Tobacco Control Coalition,
- “Condiments are the main motivation for teens to use vapes. The sooner we weed out these condiments that appeal to teens, the more young people we can protect from deep and long-term addictions. Protection late is protection lost.”
Cynthia Callard, of Physicians for Smoke-Free Canada,
- “These new studies further confirm that teens are at risk and vape brands are both dangerous and addictive.” However, the Saxophone minister appears to be delaying the implementation of condiment restrictions rather than speeding up safety measures.”
Since last October, the federal government has reportedly said the restrictions would be rolled out “as soon as possible,” possibly in November. The news prompted the pro-vape lobby to launch a new round of campaigns to block regulation, such as sending letters to all ministers, generating more than 1,000 machine letters from its customer base, and planning press conferences. This week, his spokesperson revealed on Twitter that the Saxophone minister’s office invited them to provide an alternative to condiment restrictions.
Callard added,
- “While vape companies and their support teams are entitled to voice their interests, we call on Secretary Saxophone to resist these lobbying tactics, put the health of the younger generation and all consumers first, and promote restrictions on vape flavoring as soon as possible.”
In September of last year, 180Smoke was one of the largest online retailers in the Canadian vape industry and Canada. CA’s who met with Health Canada jointly expressed anxiety about declining sales and black market problems.
Ducasse said, Ducasse said,
- “180smoke.CA was one of a number of retailers that shipped illegal vape brands from Quebec in April and October of this year, undermining the provincial condiment ban and tax regime. It is not only an executive member of the Canadian vape Association, but also a microcosm of the industry’s will. One cannot imagine that the Office of the Minister of Saxophone or Health Canada would take seriously any words coming out of the industry and any impact of the front-office team or entity mobilization.”
Les Hagen, executive director of ASH Hagen Canada, compared Canada’s delays to progress in other countries.
- “A growing number of jurisdictions, including China, the Netherlands, Finland, and Hungary, have banned flavored vape brands except for ‘cigarette’ flavor, and there are indications that the EU will implement a ban across the board.” However, despite Canada having the highest rate of youth vape use, Health Canada has dragged its feet and failed to provide provinces with a way to protect their provincial restrictions from merchants shipping condiments across provinces.”
