Health groups have called on the government to close the legal
loophole that allows vaping products to be displayed and advertised
in Ontario convenience stores.
The comments were made at committee hearings where legislators
discussed Bill 36, the Cannabis Statute Law Amendment Act.
Organizations including the Canadian Cancer Society said that
in-store promotions are luring young people to try vaping.
Rob Cunningham, senior analyst at the Canadian Cancer Society, said:
“The displays and promotions normalize vaping because the devices
are treated as regular products, sold alongside chocolate bars,
magazines and drinks. Kids need to be protected.”
Changes to regulations that would have banned the advertising
of vape products were put on-hold on July 1. Bill 36 will exempt
vaping products from the tobacco display ban.
Jaye Blancher of the Tobacco Harm Reduction Association of
Canada argued that smokers should be made aware of less-harmful
alternatives when they buy their cigarettes.
Blancher said: “[The act] positively reflects that vaping is less
risky by categorizing tobacco and vaping separately.”
According to Sarah Butson of the Ontario Lung Association, teen
vaping has increased significantly and is now more prevalent than
cigarette-smoking.
A survey by The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health found that
10.7 percent of Ontarian students in grades 10 to 12 had recently
used e-cigarettes compared to seven percent who had recently
used a cigarette.
However, the authors of the study said that there was insufficient
evidence of a so-called ‘gateway effect’ from vaping to smoking.
Lead researcher David Hammond of the School of Public Health
at the University of Waterloo, said:
“A lot of what we’re seeing in our study and a lot of other studies
out there is a simple fact, and that is the kids who do risky things,
the ones that are more likely to try e-cigarettes are also more likely
to try smoking.
“And guess what? They’re also more likely to try alcohol and
marijuana. It’s all to do with the fact that kids who are susceptible
are going to try different things.”
A more recent study of the youth community in the Niagara region of
Ontario found that just 0.2 percent of teens reported daily e-cigarette
use, adding weight to the argument that vaping among this group
is mostly experimental.
“The displays and
promotions normalize
vaping because the
devices are treated as
regular products, sold
alongside chocolate bars,
magazines and drinks.”
While the TVPA reflects Health Canada’s open-minded and progressive
approach to vaping regulation, fears of a so-called teen vaping
‘epidemic’ in the US have compelled FDA commissioner Scott
Gottlieb to crack down hard on the industry.
The US Food and Drug Administration announced “the largest-ever
coordinated initiative against violative sales in the history of the
FDA” in September, threatening to ban certain flavours or remove
e-cigarettes from the market altogether.
FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said: “I use the word epidemic
with great care. E-cigs have become an almost ubiquitous — and
dangerous — trend among teens. The disturbing and accelerating
trajectory of use we’re seeing in youth, and the resulting path to
addiction, must end. It’s simply not tolerable.”
Shortly after the crackdown was announced, the FDA began a new
campaign called ‘The Real Cost’, aimed at educating teenagers
who used or had considered using e-cigarettes.
The campaign video directed by mother! director, Darren Aronofsky,
depicts vaping as a parasitic organism taking over minds and bodies
of teenagers and spreading like a virus.
Meanwhile, in the UK, an investigation by The Times revealed
in October that e-liquid companies were using images of candy,
popcorn and ice cream to ‘hook children into addiction.’
However, the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) responded
by sharing Action for Smoking and Health (ASH) data showing that just
two percent of youths used vaping products weekly or more frequently.
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