Vaping bill opponents air out their beefs
Advocates supporting va ping rallied outside Peter borough M PP Jeff Leal’s constituency office Friday, asking him to speak up against a bill that would put restrictions on vape products and devices.
About a dozen citizens with Va p or Advocates of Ontario( VA O) gathered outside Leal’s office on King St. Friday to have their voices heard.
The group–all former cigarette smokers who quit when they turned to vapourizing – are asking for vaping to be dropped from a new bill tabled for legislation.
Ontario Bill 174 has a section that applies to tobacco products, va pour products and medical marijuana. Attorney General Yasir Naqvi introduced it Nov. 1.
I tasks that restrictions be placed on the display and promotion of products and that restrictions be placed on the sale of flavoured vapour products, for instance.
But VAO sees it as more than restrictions.
Yolanda Aubut, with VAO, said the bill would mean vape shop owners won’t be able to educate their customers and flavoured products will be banned.
Au but successfully quit smoking when she started va ping, after trying many other methods.
She wants others to be able to ditch cigarettes like she did, and opt for a less harmful alternative.
A report commissioned by Public Health England says e-cigarettes are 95 per cent less harmful to health than tobacco cigarettes.
E-cigarettes can have as much or as little nicotine in them as the user wants. Users can also we an off of nicotine wit he-cigarettes, gradually cutting back the nicotine
VAO is worried fewer citizens will be able switch from cigarettes to e-cigarettes if they don’t know how to use the products and devices, Aubut said.
“Without the education, the transition from smoking to vaping wouldn’t exist,” Aubut said.
While she admits that information could be found online, not everyone is able to do that type of research.
Josh Watson, with VAO, used his 70-year-old grandmother as an example. If she wanted to quit smoking, she wouldn’t be able to do the online research, if in-store education ends.
“It’ s safe rand more successful to have help,” Watson said.
Watson quit smoking four years ago when he started vaping. He’d been smoking for more than a decade.
“This is a healthier option that doesn’ t have all those carcinogens that cigarettes have,” he said.
The flavouring for e-liquids are part of the reason e-cigarettes are so successful in helping smokers make the switch, Watson said. If flavours are banned, e-cigarettes won’t have the same effect.
“Flavour is an integral part of why this works for people,” he said.
Watson said VAO has no problem with regulating vaping, but it needs to be fair.
“This will basically cripple the va ping industry and( va ping) as an option for people to quit smoking in Ontario,” he said.
Jeff Westwood, owner of Ontario Vapes Peterborough, expects his business will “die” if this bill goes through. “If I’m not able to explain the technology to my customers, they get frustrated and probably go back to smoking,” Westwood said.
The bottom line for Westwood is that cigarettes and tobacco aren’t the same and shouldn’t be treated the same.
“The fact is that cigarettes are killing people,” Westwood said.
Leal wasn’t in his office Friday, he was in Sudbury. He said he has a meeting booked with VAO next Friday.
The MPP said Bill 174 passed its second reading in the Ontario legislature on Thursday and is now going to committee.
Le al said Health and Long-Term Care Minister Eric Hoskins – who is sponsoring Bill 174 – has been approached about Schedule 3 (the section applying to vaping) since the bill was introduced.
Peterborough’s MPP expects there’ll be some amendments to the bill, but said it was premature to say whether or not those changes would be on Schedule 3.
In the meantime, Leal has asked concerned citizens to step up and be heard.
“I’ve recommended to people in Peterborough to make a submission with regards to schedule 3,” Leal said.
VAO is expected to rally against Schedule 3 in Bill 174 at Queen’s Park in Toronto on Saturday.
NOTE: A petition backing va ping has been setup atv aping isnt smoking. com for supporters to sign.