Changes to laws target e-cigarette use by young people

NEWS — The provincial government has introduced amendments to the Tobacco Control Act to regulate e-cigarettes in an attempt to stop the growing use of them by young people.

“More and more young people are using e-cigarettes,” Health Minister Terry Lake said in a press release today. “This legislation will limit the exposure to children of the possible dangers of e-cigarette vapour and the potential that e-cigarettes have to normalize smoking behaviour.”

The Tobacco Control Amendment Act amends the Tobacco Control Act to include requirements for retailers to ensure e-cigarettes are sold only to adults aged 19 and above, and to make it possible to create regulations to ensure that no retail displays are targeted to youth and no retail advertising for e-cigarettes is shown where youth can see it.

Dr. Richard Stanwich, past president of the Canadian Pediatric Society, said the group welcomes the changes.

“This legislation will protect the health of children and youth from the well-established harmful effects of nicotine as well as the toxic by-products of ‘vaping’,” he said.

The amendments will stop e-cigarettes from being sold in public buildings and will ban their use on public and private school grounds as well as in indoor public spaces and workplaces.

The legislation will be introduced this spring but the exact date it will be brought into force hasn’t been decided.