Category: Canada

Health Canada Wants Lower Nicotine Limits for E-Cigarettes
Health Canada wants to lower the nicotine limits for e-cigarettes to 20 mg/ml. The current limit is 66 mg/ml.
Minister of Health Patty Hajdu announced a public consultation on Dec. 18, inviting Canadians to share their thoughts on the proposal by March. 4
According to the government, the proposed changes build on existing measures to address the rise in youth vaping, including extensive public education campaigns and banning the advertising of vaping products in public spaces if the ads can be seen or heard by youth.
Health Canada is also considering to further restrict flavors in vaping products. It wants to require the vapor industry to provide more information about its products, including on sales, ingredients and research and development activities.
“Our work to protect Canadians from the harms of vaping products continues. These changes will help reduce the appeal of vaping products to youth,” said Hajdu in a statement.
The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) welcomed the plans. “The proposed regulations requiring a maximum nicotine concentration for vaping products of 20 mg/mL are essential to reduce youth vaping and deserve strong support,” said CCS Senior Policy Analyst Rob Cunningham.
The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) urged the government to balance youth protection with adult harm reduction. “It is without question that Canada must act to restrict nicotine concentrations to protect youth, but it should not be an all-or-nothing approach,” the association wrote in a press note.
“Ontario has restricted high nicotine products to age-restricted environments, effectively eliminating all retail access points for youth. This policy has proven effective in mitigating youth use while balancing the needs of adult smokers. The CVA encourages the government of Canada to adopt this policy federally,” said Darryl Tempest, executive director of the CVA.
December 20, 2020
Quebec Setting Sights on Potential E-liquid Flavor Ban
Quebec intends to ban the sale of flavored vaping cartridges and e-liquids. The Canadian city also wants to limit nicotine content after a public health report warned of a major increase in youth vaping in the province.
Credit: Aurore Duwez
“With the growing popularity of vaporization products, especially among young people, it becomes imperative to act to prevent a new generation from becoming addicted to nicotine because of these products,” Health Minister Christian Dubé said Wednesday in a statement.
In 2015, Quebec banned the sale of flavored tobacco products and saw a reduction in the number of high-schoolers smoking such products within 30 days. Similar action should be taken with regard to vaping, the public health researchers recommended.
December 11, 2020
Study: E-Cig Restrictions are Danger to Public Health
A recent study by Yale School of Public Health, “Rates of E-cigarette and Marijuana Use Not Associated With Larger Outbreaks of Vaping-Related Lung Injuries,” found that higher levels of e-cigarette and marijuana use did not result in more cases of e-cigarette or vaping related injuries (EVALI).
In a press release, the Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) stated it agreed with researchers that the study should serve as a warning to anti-vape proponents that restrictive vape regulation such as flavor bans are a danger to public health.
The study found that higher rates of e-cigarette and marijuana use resulted in fewer EVALI cases per capita, whereas areas with restricted access had a greater number of cases. Further demonstrating that as the CVA has expressed a numerous occasions, prohibition does not work.
“If e-cigarette or marijuana use per se drove this outbreak, areas with more engagement in those behaviors should show a higher EVALI prevalence,” said assistant professor Abigail Friedman, the study’s author. “This study finds the opposite result. Alongside geographic clusters of high EVALI prevalence states, these findings are more consistent with locally available e-liquids or additives driving the EVALI outbreak than a widely used, nationally-available product.”
“From the onset of the EVALI outbreak, the CVA was clear that the sudden onset of illness could not be related to regulated e-liquid products. Millions of people globally use vaping to reduce their harm from smoking and yet the cases were sudden and isolated to specific regions.,”said Darryl Tempest, executive director of the CVA. “Once the CDC confirmed the outbreak was caused by vitamin E acetate used in illicit THC products, our organization was explicit with regulators that this must serve as a warning of the dangers of the black-market. Now that research is supporting our position, we encourage regulators to review the data and regulate in the best interest of public health.”
In the release, the CVA states that regulators “must take note – flavor bans and excessive taxation create a breeding ground for unregulated products. These products adhere to no quality control standards or ingredient regulations. Moreover, their sales are not subject to inspection by tobacco enforcement or age restriction. Restrictive legislation not only harms ex-smokers by forcing them back to traditional tobacco, it often props up the black market creating public health hazards.”
October 5, 2020
Canada: Uptick in Youth Vaping, Cigarettes in Decline

Canadian youth use of combustible cigarettes has declined dramatically, while vaping increased significantly among Canadian youth over a six-year period, cigarette use remained, a University of Waterloo study says.
Vaping increased over the six years being examined by the researchers. Notably, they said, the increase started before nicotine vapes were legally available in Canada in 2018, according to a story in the Waterloo Chronicle.
The popularity of vaping in Peterborough has health officials worried, said Adam Cole, a public health researcher who led the study while at the University of Waterloo. They also found smoking rates were stable in the early years of the study but started to drop off in the most recent years, “which suggests that rather than smoking cigarettes, students are sticking with vaping.”
The researchers studied data from more than 30,000 high-school youth in grades 9 to 12 in more than 60 schools in Ontario between 2013 and 2019. The data also included a smaller sample from Alberta (nine schools), and large samples from British Columbia and Quebec, but only over three years because data was not available before 2016.
The data came from the COMPASS study, a multi-year survey of Canadian youth designed to evaluate the impact of changes to programs and policies on youth behaviour over time. It “shares the same story as other recent studies, such as in the U.S. and David Hammond’s study of Canadian youth, but with a larger sample and a longer time period,” said Cole.
Youth vaping has dropped more than 300 percent in the U.S., according to the most recent data. The overall use of e-cigarettes by youth dropped from 28 percent to 20 percent among high schoolers, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), which show 1.8 million fewer U.S. youth are currently using e-cigarettes compared to 2019.
September 28, 2020
Study Claims Vaping Ads May Increase Teen Vaping

Credit: Denys Nevozhai
A new study from Canadian researchers shows banning e-cigarette advertising reduces teen vaping. The study compared teen vaping rates in Quebec and Manitoba where there are strict laws against e-cigarette ads, to other provinces that do not restrict these ads.
Researchers at University of Waterloo in Ontario found that exposure to vaping ads was more prevalent in areas without restrictions, and teens who noticed the ads were more likely to vape. The study was published in ‘Pediatrics.’
Study author David Hammond, a professor of public health at the University of Waterloo, said this situation set up a “unique natural experiment” for researchers as Canada went from ban to a more open market, in an article from US News and World Report.
“It allowed us to answer the hypothetical question: Would lifting the restrictions make a difference in teen e-cigarette use?” he said.
The answer? “E-cigarette marketing does make a difference,” Hammond said. “It does reach minors. What our study says is that regulating marketing limited the amount of vaping.”
June 29, 2020
Alberta Introduces Bill to Regulate Vaping

Credit: Chris Henry
The Canadian Province of Alberta has introduced new legislation on vaping that would include a ban on anyone under 18 from using e-cigarettes.
Health Minister Tyler Shandro says there is mounting evidence on the health risks of vaping and statistics show more young people in Alberta are indulging, according to a story in the Eckville Echo. “Strong action needs to be taken to address significant increases in youth vaping,” Shandro said Tuesday prior to introducing the bill in the house.
Shandro’s ministry says that in the last five years, vaping rates among high school students has risen to 30 per cent from eight. It also says evidence continues to show health risks, including lung damage and nicotine poisoning.
Alberta is the only province without vaping legislation. If the bill passes, there would be restrictions — matching those in place for traditional tobacco products — on displaying and promoting vaping products in stores. Speciality vape stores would be exempt.
The province said it does not intend to ban or restrict flavors for e-cigarettes, but the bill proposes cabinet be allowed to make such restrictions once the law is passed and proclaimed.
The legislation would also expand the list of places where traditional smoking and vaping would be banned — adding playgrounds, sports fields, skateboard and bicycle parks, and public outdoor pools — to further avoid exposing youth to products and second-hand smoke.
The legislation follows a review of vaping that began last year. The government said 250 people were consulted and another 9,500 provided online comments, according to the story.
June 4, 2020