Ontario MPP Reintroduces Anti-Youth Vaping Bill

A lawmaker in Ontario has reintroduced a bill to help prevent youth from taking up e-cigarettes. If passed, the bill would bump the legal age of selling products to 21, prohibit the promotion of vaping products, restrict sale to vape shops and require Ontario Health to do an annual report on vaping usage.

The bill has earned praise from the Lung Health Association and the Canadian Cancer Society, which both say greater government oversight is required, according to CTV News. Both point to statistics from Health Canada that say the symptoms of vaping, or vaping-related illness, can include cough, fever, shortness of breath, chest pain, diarrhea and abdominal pain.

“We limit the sale of cannabis, we limit the sale to specialty stores only, we don’t sell cannabis in convenience stores or gas stations, but we sell cigarettes and vaping products in gas stations — that shouldn’t be done,” said Rob Cunningham of the Canadian Cancer Society.

The Canadian Vaping Association however says not so fast. It said the measures that are being introduced are short-sighted. Executive director Darryl Tempest said the problem is complex and the proposed legislation doesn’t target things like alcohol or tobacco.

“Vaping is far more effective to get people off combustible tobacco and it’s been proven seven years in a row from the Royal College of Physicians to be 95 per cent less harmful than smoking — where is that consideration in this legislation?” said Tempest.

He said the one thing we need to understand is that smoking, particularly combustible smoking, is the largest form of preventable death in the nation. According to his figures, there are more than four million smokers in Canada and 1.1 million have chosen a less harmful alternative.