Read articles from Canada
In the realm of legislative overreach, there are few things more emblematic than the Canadian government’s recent move to force tobacco companies to emblazon individual cigarettes with warning messages. While the intention to safeguard public health is admirable, this measure reeks of pointlessness and misdirection. In the grand scheme of tobacco control, this endeavour is akin to placing a band-aid on a leaking dam. More importantly, if this trend extends to Britain and impacts vapes, it risks undermining more effective deterrents while setting a dangerous precedent.
Selling flavoured vaping products will be prohibited in Quebec starting Oct. 31. New regulations announced by the Health Ministry on Wednesday, will also limit the maximum nicotine concentration of vaping products and require certain information to be included on their labelling and packaging. The province will also control "certain characteristics" of vaping paraphernalia to make them "less attractive" to youth, according to a government press release.
Over the past 18 months, a dangerous misinformation campaign has emerged, falsely linking nicotine vapes to fentanyl.
The media calls fentanyl-laced nicotine vapes an alarming trend that may be poisoning kids. A possibility that FDA Commissioner Robert Califf recently told Congress was likely only a matter of time.
Montréal-based healthtech startup Ditch Labs wants to help smokers wean themselves off nicotine with its dual hardware-software solution.
The early-stage startup has set its sights on a massive and increasing public health issue: nicotine addiction. A highly-addictive stimulant found in tobacco products, nicotine is why so many smokers find it tough to quit using cigarettes and vaporizers.
Canada will soon print warning labels directly on cigarettes in a world-first, the country's health agency announced.
New packaging will feature a warning on each cigarette with phrases like: "Cigarettes cause cancer" and "Poison in every puff".
The regulation will come into effect on 1 August, Health Canada said.
It is part of an effort to reduce tobacco use in Canada to less than 5% by 2035.
In an announcement on Wednesday, Health Canada said the new regulations "will make it virtually impossible to avoid health warnings" on tobacco products.
Vaping rates among young Canadians have fallen in recent years, but some experts expect those numbers to tick back up now that COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted.
The numbers stem from Health Canada’s recent Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, released Tuesday, which surveyed 61,096 students in grades 7 to 12 between September 2021 and June 2022 across nine provinces.
Twenty-nine per cent of students reported ever using an e-cigarette in 2021-22, a decrease from 34 per cent in 2018-19.
Smokers’ Helpline is a free, confidential service operated by the Canadian Cancer Society, offering support and information about quitting smoking, vaping and tobacco use. In over 20 years of operation, it has handled 400,000 calls, and 120,000 people have registered with the program. It is the main helpline for Canadians who smoke and operates in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan PEI and Yukon.
On its website, it says that it is ” evidence-based” and offers “personalized tools to help you quit successfully your way.”
The co-owner of a Sudbury, Ont. vape shop says better enforcement is needed to keep e-cigarettes out of the hands of teens, as opposed to stricter laws.
"Our governments tend to regulate all of our products. Health Canada tries to push these agendas," said Robert Arsenault, co-owner of the eCloudz Specialty Vape Shop.
"Vaping is not for kids. But where's the enforcement?" In Ontario it's illegal for anyone under the age of 19 to purchase e-cigarettes.
And yet a recent study from researchers at Western University and Brescia University College found that 26 per cent of teens in Canada reported vaping at least once in the previous month.
Health Canada is "missing in action" on the regulation of e-cigarette flavours in Canada as youth vaping rates rise, health advocates say, and at a time when the vaping industry is expanding into highly addictive new devices that experts warn appeal directly to kids.
The federal government sounded the alarm in June 2021 over a "rapid increase in youth vaping in Canada" and proposed changes to the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act to regulate the sale of "desirable flavours" helping drive the rising use among teens.
Quebec Minister of Health Christian Dubé announced a ban on flavours in nicotine vaping products which could go into effect in only 90 days.
Under the proposed regulation, all flavoured vapes, except for tobacco flavoured, will be forbidden in the province.
It’s devastating news for the 250,000 nicotine vapers who rely on various flavours to stay smoke-free. And for the hundreds of small business owners and the thousands of workers in Quebec’s vaping industry, the flavour ban amounts to a death sentence for their businesses.
- Page 1 of 18