The industry will now be popping champagne: no Alberta nicotine cap, no flavour ban
The government of Alberta finally proposed legislation regulating vaping last week. But its Bill 19 is quite simply a cop-out. In the name of protecting children and youth, the bill mainly protects industry, and not children and youth. Alberta is the last Canadian province to regulate vaping and now makes minimal proposals: restricting advertising and…
Recent wake-up calls began when a Chinese article reported smoking increased the risk of becoming sicker by 14 times
The coronavirus is not just a threat. It’s an opportunity. The COVID-19 pandemic offers every smoker and vaper with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to quit: a wake-up call. The novel virus causes a respiratory disease that’s worse with lungs that are already vulnerable, whether because of age or disease. Lungs are also made vulnerable by smoking…
Young people are getting hooked on vaping, despite the many unknowns. We need to develop effective counter programs before it's too late
In 1973, the band Brownsville Station released the song Smokin’ in the Boys Room. At the time, nearly half of Canadian adults and teens smoked. Reports had been coming out for years about the dangers of tobacco use but smoking was still seen as a cool thing to do. Over the next several decades, the…
Vaping comes with serious health risks, just like other tobacco products, but the Ontario government doesn't seem to care
As a clinician and researcher in the field of tobacco control, what I see happening with vaping marketing and promotion is déjà vu of the very worst kind. It’s pervasive and insidious. And in Ontario, we’re failing our youth by permitting it. Over the last 30 years, we have fought many policy battles with the…
Instead of moving to group e-cigarettes with tobacco products, new legislation should recognize the health benefits of vaping over smoking
The growing government push to restrict vaping will only worsen the cigarette-related health crisis in Canada. On the federal level, Bill S5 remains before the Senate, more than a year after it was introduced in that house. The bill is intended to amend the Tobacco Act and the Non-smokers’ Health Act, primarily to regulate the…
Nicotine is both the problem and the solution to smoking and the epidemic can be stopped by using non-combustion alternatives
At the end of July, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did something remarkable – even revolutionary. It decided to behave in a rational way about nicotine – embracing a sensible harm-reduction approach. Canada would do well to follow. Instead, Canada has been focused on risk aversion where nicotine is concerned – and…
Consumer fears are too often misdirected toward new innovations rather than the known harms they might reduce
By Adam R. Houston and David Sweanor University of Ottawa The public panic around aspartame highlights a worrying trend. Fears are too often misdirected toward new innovations rather than the known harms they might reduce. Pepsi recently reintroduced its signature cola with aspartame. The artificial sweetener was removed less than a year earlier in response to unfounded…