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In April 2021, two more documents were released by Health Canada which set out how the department plans to address the health consequences of tobacco use and vaping. The first is Health Canada’s Forward Regulatory Plan for 2022-2024, and the second is the internal evaluation of Health Canada’s activities, including management’s response to the recommendations made by...
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May 23, 2022 marks four years since Royal Assent was given to the legislation that turned the Tobacco Act into the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act. On that day, the Minister of Health is obliged by law to submit to both the Senate and the House of Commons a report on the “review of the provisions and operation of this...
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Last week Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. launched a new campaign using the industry’s decades’ old strategy of invoking medical experts as pitch-men for their products. This post documents how this campaign (a) continues the industry’s historic marketing practices, (b) is a transgression of federal law and (c) is nonetheless likely to be permitted to continue. DEJA VU ALL...
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A year ago we reported on the scientific progress that had been made since 2018, when the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) issued its conclusions on the Public Health Consequences of E-cigarettes. This post provides a further update on key research findings, offering further evidence for our governments to stop suggesting that “the long-term consequences of...
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Most Canadian governments which have banned flavoured e-cigarettes have done so in order to reduce the number of young people who are brought into nicotine use through the use of attractive flavourings. Vaping manufacturers have objected to these measures, and are claiming that flavours “save lives” because they encourage smokers to switch to e-cigarettes. Missing...
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The overarching objectives of these recommendations are to protect young people from inducements to use vaping devices by regulating such devices as equivalent to tobacco products, and to encourage smokers who use vaping devices to use them solely to end or reduce their use of all nicotine-containing products. Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health...
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In advance of the beginning of Canada’s 44th parliament, Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada (PSC) has written the new Minister and Associate Minister of Health to recommend priority actions to reduce tobacco use. The letter can be read here. The health charity urges the ministers to address two key weaknesses in the federal approach to tobacco...
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European journalists recently investigated the relationship between public opposition to e-cigarette regulation and tobacco companies and other corporate interests. Last week their findings were published in the French newspaper of record, Le Monde: VAPING: The real dollars behind fake consumer organisations. While their focus was mostly on activities in Europe, the report also spotlighted connections between...
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What happens when governments announce targets to achieve important public objectives, but then fail to develop adequate plans to achieve them? Or when their plans for achieving these targets are side-swiped by later events? Or swept aside by subsequent administrations? Stewards of the environment have faced these challenges and have developed a system to improve...
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More than 30 years ago, Canadian health organizations began to campaign for pharmacies to stop selling cigarettes. One by one, 9 provinces and 3 territories amended their tobacco laws to end this practice. Only one province – British Columbia – has firmly declined to take this step. This post looks reviews provincial bans on pharmacy...
