Advocates calling on more provinces to ban flavoured vape products

Six provinces and territories have banned the sale of flavoured vape products. Advocates are calling on the other provinces and territories, such as Manitoba, to follow suit. Alex Karpa reports.

By Alex Karpa

As Quebec intends to prohibit the sale of flavoured vape products, some advocates are calling on other provinces, like Manitoba, to follow suit.

New Brunswick, PEI, Nova Scotia, and the Northwest Territories have all banned the sale of flavoured vaping products across the country. Nunavut is on the same path, but the territorial government there has not put the measure in place yet.

Just last week, Quebec pulled the plug on flavoured products in an effort to stop minors from vaping.

“We’ve been calling for a ban on flavours ever since the products were introduced legally back in 2018,” said Cynthia Callard, executive director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada.

“It’s the first of the large governments. We hope now that since the federal government seems to be back-tracking on its commitment, for reasons that remain unclear, other provinces will follow suit.”

Callard says recent studies have shown that 1-in-10 senior high school students were vaping on a daily basis. She says it’s a growing problem.

“Vape is the new smoking and it’s really addicted a whole new generation. It’s a brand-new epidemic.”


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Rob Cunningham from the Canadian Cancer Society says provinces like Manitoba need to do more to ban flavoured vape products, but he says there needs to be a federal regulation across the country.

“The federal government needs to finalize and strengthen a regulation it put forward in June 2021, almost two years. There is no justifiable reason for such a long delay to finalize that federal regulation,” said Cummingham.

Cunningham says e-cigarettes are highly addictive because of the nicotine it contains. He says there are more than 500,000 Canadians who now vape, that have never smoked before. He also says the evidence is increasingly supporting the negative impacts vaping has on cardiovascular and respiratory health.

“There’s a long-term health issue that needs to be addressed and the large numbers of youth who are vaping, young adults who are vaping simply cannot continue.”

A Manitoba government spokesperson tells CityNews there are no plans to expand current restrictions on vaping at this time.

Hailey Coleman, a tobacco educator at the Manitoba Lung Association, says it’s vital the Manitoba government follows suit, but in the meantime, educating young children and students on the dangers of smoking is important.

“We find that children still do want to quit after they have understood the effects of it. Prevention is key and just educating our youth so they can just help themselves,” explained Coleman.

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