SMOKING CONCERNS
Donna Pasiechnik of the Canadian Cancer Society wants the promotion of electronic cigarettes banned over concerns that there are more youths smoking and vaping.
Concerned about increasing rates of youth smoking and vaping, the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) is calling on the province to ban promotion and advertising of electronic cigarettes.
“Vaping is less harmful than smoking, but it’s not harmless,” said Donna Pasiechnik, a health policy analyst for the CCS in Saskatchewan.
E-cigarettes, often used as an alternative to smoking, still contain cigarettes’ addictive ingredient — nicotine — and while some argue it’s relatively harmless, others like Pasiechnik are urging caution.
“These products are relatively new to the market,” she said. “So we don’t truly know what the longterm impacts ... are.”
With many products available in a variety of fun flavours and e-cigarettes that could easily be mistaken for a long USB stick, Pasiechnik is worried about how the new trend is becoming popularized among the province’s youth.
A sign outside a convenience store in Regina’s Cathedral neighbourhood holds an advertisement for the Vype EPEN 3. “Hits the spot. All taste. No tar. Govype.ca” reads the ad.
Inside, a Vype display sits on counter while cigarettes and other tobacco product are tucked away behind nondescript cupboard doors with no ads for them in sight.
Pasiechnik said displays and signs advertising e-cigarettes put the product “front and centre in convenience stores right beside the candy counter for kids to see.”
“Our concern is that vaping has the potential to undo all the work we’ve done to reduce smoking rates in Canada by hooking another generation of kids to nicotine,” she said.
CCS Saskatchewan met with Ministry of Health and other stakeholders on Wednesday to discuss their concerns and make a number of recommendations.
Pasiechnik said they would like to see the promotion of e-cigarettes, which were legalized by the federal government in May, banned.
“Essentially, the laws that we have in place around tobacco should apply to e-cigs and most provinces have those regulations in place,” she said. “Saskatchewan does not.”
Federal legislation restricts lifestyle advertising and ads that appeal to children when it comes to vaping. It also prohibits the depiction of a person, animal or character, real or fiction in vaping ads. There is currently no provincial legislation specific to vaping or e-cigarettes.
An emailed statement from the Ministry of Health described the meeting as productive.
“We are continuing to monitor the effectiveness of the federal legislation and the approaches in other provinces,” said the statement. “Through collective action, our goal is to protect the health of Saskatchewan people and make it easier for them to make healthy lifestyle choices.”
Twyla West, spokesperson for the Regina Catholic School Division, said it doesn’t have solid data on the prevalence of vaping among students at school but they are aware some students do partake.
“We would absolutely discourage it and encourage all of our students to really think about anything that they’re putting into their body,” said West.
If caught vaping, students risk a suspension, she said.
According to Government of Canada survey conducted in 201617, the prevalence of ever trying an e-cigarette increased to 23 per cent (approximately 470,000 students) from 20 per cent in 2014-15.
Among students who used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days, 57 per cent had used an e-cigarette on three or fewer days, while 11 per cent reported daily use.
Of the students who had used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days, 17 per cent were current smokers, 12 per cent were former smokers, 35 per cent were experimental smokers or puffers and 36 per cent indicated that they had never smoked a cigarette.
Pasiechnik said the CCS will follow up with the provincial government in the new year, but is demanding changes, particularly to the Tobacco Control Act, as soon as possible.
In addition to a ban on promotion and advertising, they ’d like to see a licensing system instituted as well as a fee for selling e-cigarettes and vaping products.
She said those changes might help reduce the temptation to sell products to minors and hopefully result in less youth vaping.
“We’re calling on the government to modernize our outdated tobacco laws in order to reduce our high youth smoking rates,” she said.
“We’ve really fallen behind here in Saskatchewan.”