P.E.I. considers banning people born after certain date from buying tobacco products

CHARLOTTETOWN — In a bold bid to stop young people from smoking, health officials in P.E.I. are proposing a ban on tobacco sales to anyone born after a certain date.

The idea, first introduced in New Zealand and moving forward in the United Kingdom, is included in a consultation paper released earlier this week by the Island’s Health Department and its chief public health office.

The five-year wellness plan, titled Live Well P.E.I., calls for a “tobacco-free generation” policy, suggesting as an example that no one born after Jan. 1, 2009, would ever be able to legally purchase cigarettes.

The document says this approach recognizes that most smokers begin their habit in their teens, which means preventing early adoption is the key to ending “the tobacco epidemic.”

Earlier this year, New Zealand repealed its pioneering tobacco-free generation law, which would have banned sales to those born after Jan. 1, 2009. A new government elected in October said it planned to take a different approach to discourage the habit and help people quit smoking.

The British government’s proposed legislation for a similar ban, with the same cutoff date, cleared first reading in Parliament last month.

Under the U.K.’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill, children turning 15 this year or younger will never legally be sold tobacco, creating modern Britain’s “first smoke-free generation.” The bill also includes measures to reduce youth vaping.

Opponents of the bill, such as a smokers’ rights lobby group called Forest, said the proposed ban risks creating a black market and will “treat future generations of adults like kids.”

In Canada, tobacco use remains Prince Edward Island’s leading preventable cause of illness and death. Island health officials say 90 per cent of deaths caused by lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are associated with tobacco use.

About 13 per cent of Islanders over the age of 11 smoke daily, which is higher than the Canadian average.

“To reduce the impact of tobacco use in P.E.I., we need to prevent Island residents from beginning to use tobacco products, while helping those who do use tobacco products to quit,” the consultation document says.

P.E.I.’s proposed restrictions do not apply to vaping products. Health officials say P.E.I. is already a national leader when it comes to smoking and nicotine vaping control.

In 2020, P.E.I. became the first province or territory in Canada to increase the legal age to purchase tobacco or electronic smoking devices to 21 years old.

In 2021, the sale of electronic smoking devices and e-liquids was limited to “tobacconist shops,” where admission is restricted to those old enough to legally buy tobacco.

“Nicotine vaping carries its own health risks and is contributing to a new generation of Island residents who are becoming nicotine dependent,” the P.E.I. document says.

Health officials say vaping remains popular with Island students, increasing from six per cent among students in Grade 7 to 35 per cent among those in Grade 12.

Provincial health officials say they would also like sales of tobacco products limited to tobacconist shops.