“Unfortunately up until now there has not been federal legislation associated with vaping, and it’s been something that’s been asked for,” said Health Minister Dr. Jane Philpott. “The provinces and territories would certainly like to see a cohesive piece of legislation at the federal level around this, so there will be regulations.”
Bill S-5 An Act To Amend The Tobacco Act would regulate vaping products, including restrictions on sales to Canadians under 18, a ban on celebrity endorsements and “lifestyle advertising”, and curbs on packaging and claims that “could cause a person to believe the product or its emissions are less harmful than other tobacco products.”
Philpott said pending regulations would also restrict vaping flavours like bubble gum that target young smokers. “There are a number of ways that this will be done to make sure we don’t encourage young people to pick up habits that will lead them to become addicted to nicotine and ultimately to take up smoking,” Philpott told reporters; “We know that tobacco kills 1 in 2 people who become regular smokers.”
Eight of ten provinces, all but Saskatchewan and Alberta, currently have some regulation on the use and sale of vaping products. “A lot of this Bill S-5 deals with issues that are best dealt with by the federal government,” said Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society. “There are gaps in provincial regulations.”
“E-cigarettes are very complex issue, and the fact provinces have moved forward has set the stage,” said Cunningham. “We don’t want to see kids using this.”
An estimated 13 percent of Canadians have tried e-cigarettes, according to a 2015 Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol And Drugs Survey. The rate was higher, 25 percent, for teenagers. The health department in a statement said ongoing research would “inform policy and regulatory decisions” once Bill S-5 is passed.
There is a fair percentage of smokers that have been vaping, said Professor Geoffrey Fong, founder of the University of Waterloo’s International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project. Certainly the tobacco industry that has a large share of this market is pushing a number of different products.
The Evaluation Project earlier received US$8.8 million in funding from the U.S. National Cancer Institute to examine e-cigarette use and regulation in Canada, the U.S., U.K. and Australia. “We are in the first year of our study,” said Dr. Fong. “We are collecting data now that may act as a pre-measure for evaluating this bill.”
E-cigarettes are currently exempt from the Tobacco Act or Food & Drugs Act unless they contain nicotine or make health claims. Health Canada in a notice last June 2 said it had so little information on vaping, it would hire contractors to gauge the market size; top brands; most popular flavours; and growth rates.
The Commons health committee in a 2015 report Vaping: Towards A Regulatory Framework For E-Cigarettes urged a national ban on e-cigarette advertising, and regulations against the use of flavours targeted to young smokers.