The Executive Director the Canadian Vaping Association says the issue of youth vaping got out of hand in Canada after the Federal Government released its regulations last year.
Darryl Tempest says flavours have been around for over a decade, with little no increase in the youth vaping rates.
“After the federal legislation came in, it opened up the channel and the opportunity for gas stations and convenience stores to sell this products, that’s when we saw the explosions,” he said.
And he also says big tobacco companies are also to blame for the recent spike in youth vaping.
“There’s an estimated 40 million users of vaping products globally,” he said on NL Newsday. “It wasn’t until the aggressive marketing that we’ve seen from these types of companies. The other thing too is the nicotine strength that are available are extremely high, with little to no education.”
“If you look at the UK, they have a cap on 20 mg per ml like you will see what the BC Government has called for, and there’s been no impact on youth uptake. So that’s the data that is available.”
Tempest says the Canadian Vaping Association supports the limits that were proposed by the B.C. government earlier this month.
“If you look at your adult only vape shop, the traditional sales for nicotine levels in those environments are 3, 6, and 12 mg per ml, and that has been very successful for the transition of smokers,” Tempest noted. “Mostly what you are seeing in convenience stores is sold at 59 mg per ml.”
He says members of the Canadian Vaping Association are anti-big tobacco, as they represent adult only shop owners and manufacturers that supply those stores.