Quebec to ban flavoured vaping products on Oct. 31

Selling flavoured vaping products will be prohibited in Quebec starting Oct. 31.

New regulations announced by the Health Ministry on Wednesday, will also limit the maximum nicotine concentration of vaping products and require certain information to be included on their labelling and packaging.

The province will also control "certain characteristics" of vaping paraphernalia to make them "less attractive" to youth, according to a government press release. 

"One of the aims of the new regulations on vaping products is to protect young people from the harmful and worrying effects of vaping," said Health Minister Christian Dubé in the release. "This is our responsibility, and we're going to make sure that these substances become less attractive for everyone."

The regulations were applauded by the Canadian Cancer Society on Wednesday. 

In a press statement, senior manager of the society's Quebec branch, David Raynaud, said there's an "urgent need to act on the youth vaping crisis."

"We are delighted to see that the government, like us, prioritizes the health of young people. We want to prevent a new generation from becoming addicted to nicotine through electronic cigarettes," he said.

The "juice" that's vaporized and inhaled through e-cigarettes comes in a wide variety of flavours, from tobacco to menthol to fruits and candy. Critics have long argued these flavours make vaping more appealing to kids and teens. 

A 2020 study by Quebec's statistics institute, the INSPQ, found that 18 per cent of adolescent respondents had vaped in the previous 30 days.

That figure was 15 per cent for young adults between 18 and 24 years old, five per cent for those 25 to 34 and 2 per cent for those 35 to 64.

'VAPERS WILL GO BACK TO CIGARETTES' 

But there are fears the new legislation will reverse the progress of former smokers.

"Many thousands of vapers will go back to cigarettes, while others will buy their products on the black market. In both cases, this is very bad news from a public health point of view," reads a release from the CDVQ, a Quebec colation that fights for vaping rights.  

Meanwhile, Canada's biggest tobacco company says the legislation won't make a meaningful difference in preventing youth vaping.

"Young people are already obtaining vaping products illegally. They will inevitably continue to obtain their supplies the same way adults will from now on – through the black market, where products are unlicensed and there are no safety standards," said Eric Gagnon of Imperial Tobacco Canada.

While Canada's Food and Drug Agency does not recognize vaping as an official therapeutic aid for quitting smoking, Health Canada has acknowledged that switching from cigarettes to their electronic counterparts can reduce harm to one's health.