Quebec Considers Banning Flavors in Vaping Products

The Quebec government has announced its intention to increase taxes on vaping products and is also considering banning flavors in vaping products with the exception of tobacco flavor.

The National Institute of Public Health of Quebec has presented a draft regulation to Health Minister Christian Dubré. This follows a series of recommendations made in August 2020 aimed at better regulating vaping products.

Ban flavourings to protect young people

Minister Dubé's office says it is concerned about the popularity of vaping products among young people and is worried that a new generation will become addicted to nicotine because of these products.

In October 2022, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec published the results of the 2020 Quebec Tobacco and Vaping Products Survey. The main conclusions of the study are that vaping is very widespread among adolescents since 18% of 15-17 year olds reported vaping regularly compared to 2.4% of 35-64 year olds. More than 8 out of 10 adolescent consumers (82.2%) use e-cigarettes containing more than 20mg/ml of nicotine.[1].

To respond to this situation, the firm specified that it wanted to quickly take certain measures that were recommended to it, in particular:

• The ban on the sale of vaping products with a flavour or aroma other than tobacco, a ban on flavours already in force for tobacco products;
• Limit the maximum nicotine concentration of all vaping products to 20 mg/ml and regulate the capacity of tanks and the maximum volume of bottles of vaping liquid.

Other measures in the bill include requiring a license to sell vaping products and limiting the number of vape shops near schools.

Regarding the taxation of vaping products in the province, it will come into effect this fall: 11 Canadian TP4T per 2 ml for containers of less than 10 ml; for larger containers, 5 Canadian TP4T for the first 10 milliliters and 1 Canadian TP4T for each additional ml.

Strong opposition from the vaping industry

This regulation, which includes a ban on flavours, has sparked significant reactions from the vaping industry. The Coalition des droits des vapoteurs du Québec (CDVQ) accuses the government of relying solely on "its intuitions and dogmas" and not on science and of abandoning former smokers who have successfully quit thanks to vaping. These positions are shared by the Canadian Vaping Association, which stresses the importance of vaping product flavours in quitting smoking tobacco. The Association is threatening to take legal action against the government if the text is adopted.

However, the claim that the ban on flavours would be accompanied by a resurgence in smoking is not verified.

Other Canadian provinces, such as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and the Northwest Territories have already enacted the banning of flavours for e-cigarettes. These bans have since been upheld by the courts, following appeals filed by manufacturers against this measure.[2].

In France, last February, the National Committee against Smoking[3] called on the public authorities to ban flavourings (other than tobacco) in all vaping products in order to protect young people and create a tobacco-free generation and faced violent reactions from vaping manufacturers, worried about seeing their sales drop sharply.

Keywords: Quebec, Canada, flavors, ban, vaping, electronic cigarette

AE

[1] Tobacco-free generation, Quebec: significant consumption of vaping products with high nicotine levels among adolescents, published on November 3, 2022, consulted on March 6, 2023

[2] Tobacco-free generation, In Quebec, vaping stores are stocking up on sweets to attract minors, published on February 24, 2023, consulted on March 6, 2023

[3] Press release, National Committee Against Smoking Warns of Uncontrolled Development of New Products and Calls for Ban on Flavors, February 13, 2023