Better late than never: The federal government is finally proposing regulations to limit nicotine content in vaping products
MONTRÉAL, Dec. 18, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - The Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control welcomes the publication in the Canada Gazette Part I of draft regulations to cap the nicotine concentration in recreational vaping liquids to 20 mg/ml. Should the government move swiftly once the 75-day consultation period has ended, to publication in Part II, the sale of high nicotine vaping products in Canada could be banned as early as next spring. This announcement comes one year after the federal Minister of Health indicated "new rules are expected in the coming months on flavoured e-cigarette products and nicotine concentrations".
"The federal government's intention to reduce the maximum nicotine concentration in vaping liquids to 20 mg/ml across Canada is excellent news. This measure is long overdue. If the government has the political will and is not swayed by industry protests, it can ensure the measure comes into force soon after the 75-day consultation period," says Flory Doucas, Co-Director and Spokesperson for the Coalition.
A year ago, almost to the day (in December 2019), Health Canada released the report of a consultation launched in the spring of 2019 seeking comments from the public, the health community and health experts on potential measures to reduce the appeal of vaping products for youth, including reducing nicotine levels. Subsequently, in February 2020, Health Canada approached the vaping industry to quantify the impacts that nicotine limits would have on it, suggesting that the drafting of regulations was well underway by early 2020.
"These regulations have been long in the making, but the fact that they decree a short 15-day transition period once they are finalized may be a signal that the government is finally recognizing the urgency to remove these highly addictive products from the market, as they are addicting generations of kids to nicotine. Member countries of the European Community have had this measure in place for over four years. These outrageously high nicotine products should never have been allowed on the Canadian market in the first place," concluded the spokesperson.
The economic impact analysis of another vaping regulation (regarding promotion) published in July 2020 by Health Canada not only stated that, on a Canadian scale, vaping (last 30 days) among students in the last two years of high school had doubled (from 14, 6% to 29.4% between 2016/17 and 2018/19), but also that almost half of these students (13%) were vaping daily or almost daily, which testifies to the particularly strong potency of high doses of nicotine, especially via new "nicotine salts" technology. At the time, Health Canada pointed out that, in addition to aggressive product promotion, "the introduction of high-concentration nicotine products to the market" is one of the factors contributing to the popularity of vaping products among youth.
SOURCE Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control
Contact : Flory Doucas : 514-515-6780
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