Canada is set to enact a three-year-old flavor ban, according to Vaping360. The regulations were first published in June 2021 in the Canada Gazette but then never went into effect. Now, however, Health Minister Mark Holland has reinvigorated the ban.
Holland previously worked at Heart and Stroke, where he was the national director of children and youth. “I was with Heart and Stroke when we dealt with the issue of vaping,” he said, “and there were many voices at that time, when information was uncertain, who said, ‘Let this exist as a cessation tool. Don’t take action.’ The result of that, unfortunately, was that the tobacco industry was able to addict a whole new cohort of young people—who had no exposure to nicotine—to something that’s absolutely deadly for their health. It has had very injurious outcomes for our health system.”
Vaping proponents warned that the measure could backfire. “As presented, Minister Holland’s proposal will not achieve the desired public health objectives and could, on the contrary, seriously harm a significant number of Canadian adult ex-smokers, the Vaping Industry Trade Association (VITA) wrote in a press release.
“This appears to be a personal legacy project for the Minister of Health, supported strongly by his former peers at the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Lung Association and some smaller anti-smoking NGOs [nongovernmental organizations],” said VITA Managing Director Thomas Kirsop.
The ban would give manufacturers a list of fewer than 100 allowable flavoring ingredients that can only be used to create e-liquid in tobacco, mint and menthol flavors. Sweeteners of any kind would be banned. The regulations will also “prescribe sensory attributes standards to prevent a sensory perception other than one that is typical of tobacco or mint/menthol.”