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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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This post reports on efforts by Canadian governments to ensure that retailers of vaping products follow provincial and federal laws, and identifies where official and community reports on enforcement action can be found. VAPING Federal enforcement of restrictions on vaping marketing. Since 2019, Health Canada has proactively disclosed reports on its activities to ensure compliance...
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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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Over the past months Canadians have heard the views on vaping regulations of Concordia University economist Ian Irvine. Recently the Globe and Mail’s business editor gave space to his opinion that taxes on vaping products should not be so high as to discourage people from using them and that governments should do more to encourage smokers who...
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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...
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What looks like a cigarette, tastes like a cigarette and smells like a cigarette but is not regulated like a cigarette? Meet TAAT, a hemp-based cigarette look-alike. Made by a Canadian company, designed by Philip Morris International alumni, and now being test-marketed in the U.S.A., TAAT are nicotine-free ‘cigarettes’ that promise a realistic smoking experience....
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Next week Justice McEwan of Ontario’s Superior Court will be asked for the sixth time to extend the insolvency protection orders under which Canada’s 3 main tobacco companies are maintaining “business as usual” while trying to negotiate an end to the lawsuits filed against them. In most respects, there appear to be no new developments in...
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This week’s news that British American Tobacco (BAT) acquired a large share of Organigram, a Canadian cannabis company should have come as no surprise. Tobacco companies have recently signalled that they are very much getting into the cannabis business. In an industry noted for expanding through mergers and acquisitions, we can only expect more such announcements. Indeed,...
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Earlier this month, Jonathan Wilkinson, the minister of Enviornment and Climate Change Canada announced Canada’s plans to achieve zero plastic waste within the next decade. Included in this plan was a ban on 6 categories of single-use plastic items: plastic checkout bags, straws, stir sticks, six-pack rings, cutlery, and food ware made from hard-to-recycle plastics. While the...
