Health groups warn against vaping advertising in Ontario stores

TORONTO — Allowing the display and advertising of vaping products in thousands of convenience stores across Ontario will lead to increased nicotine addiction among teenagers, a coalition of health groups warned the provincial government on Tuesday.

The Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco — which includes the Canadian Cancer Society and the Heart & Stroke Foundation — said proposed changes to the Smoke-Free Ontario Act announced last week will allow the advertising of such products.

“We strongly urge the Ford government to withdraw the proposal to allow unrestricted display and promotion of these products where kids can see them, often next to the candy, in retail stores,” said Michael Perley, the group’s director.

Ontario was set to ban the promotion of vaping products in convenience stores under the previous Liberal regime but the new Progressive Conservative government paused regulations that were to come into effect on July 1. Perley said many vaping products are made by tobacco companies, contain nicotine and their flavours and packaging are designed to imitate candy.

“One has to wonder whether these vaping products from the tobacco industry are on the market with nicotine to encourage users, especially younger users who don’t already smoke, to then move on to cigarettes?” he said. “That’s a question we don’t have an answer to. It seems possible.”

Health Canada says vaping products are harmful, although not as harmful as smoking cigarettes, and has expressed concern about the appeal of vaping to teens and its potential to promote tobacco use. It says there is clear evidence that exposure to nicotine adversely affects cognitive function in the developing brains of adolescents.