Push for ban on vape flavours in Quebec following survey results

Quebec has the third-highest vaping charge in Canada, based on a current survey, and an anti-tobacco group is asking for tightened rules to stop extra folks from selecting up the behavior.

Six per cent of Quebecers older than 15 vaped within the 30 days earlier than they had been surveyed, the 2021 Canadian Tabacco and Nicotine Survey (CTNS) discovered.

By comparability, the nationwide common was 5 per cent. Quebec was handed solely by Prince Edward Island at 8 per cent and New Brunswick at 9 per cent.

“In gentle of those outcomes, we will see that the measures governing vaping haven’t been adequate to reverse the phenomenon of vaping amongst younger folks,” reads a press launch from the Coalition québécoise pour le contrôle du tabac.

Quebec does have some restrictions on the promoting and sale of vapes.

As is the case for tobacco merchandise like cigarettes, it is unlawful to promote vapes to minors, and promoting is restricted to publications the place the overwhelming majority of readers are over 18.

Plus, like smoking, vaping is restricted in lots of public areas.

A MATTER OF TASTE

However there’s one space the place restrictions on smoking and vaping do not match: flavours.

Whereas including flavours to cigarettes is prohibited, flavouring the liquids utilized in vaping merchandise remains to be allowed in Quebec.

In response to the survey, fruit and menthol are probably the most vaped flavours country-wide, and fruit was hottest amongst folks ages 15 to 19, with 65 per cent saying it was their desire.

In December 2020, the Quebec Well being Ministry mentioned it deliberate to “prohibit the sale of vaping merchandise with a non-tobacco flavour or aroma,” however this modification has but to happen.

“What’s Minister Dubé ready for to ban fruit and menthol flavours in vaping liquids, as different provinces and territories have already accomplished?” mentioned coalition co-director Flory Doucas.

“He had introduced […] that it was crucial to behave, notably on the difficulty of flavours, to guard younger folks from nicotine dependancy.”

The Well being Ministry has but to reply to a request for remark.

The coalition burdened how only a few younger vapers selected tobacco as their most popular flavour (1 per cent), whereas 14 per cent of these 25 and up mentioned it was theirs.

That is seemingly as a result of, based on the survey, 61 per cent of 15 to 19-year-olds have by no means smoked tobacco earlier than.

“This discovering suggests that almost all of youth should not utilizing vaping units to cut back or give up smoking,” the survey reads.

In response to the coalition, this knowledge goes towards arguments made by vaping teams that “vaping is synonymous with quitting smoking.”