CBC News CBC News Navigation Home Opinion World Canada Politics Business Health Entertainment Technology & Science Video Health Rate My Hospital Photo Galleries Vaping, e-cigarettes to be regulated by Health Canada E-cigarettes offer possible benefits for harm reduction, but new rules aim to protect young people CBC News Posted: Nov 22, 2016 3:29 PM ET Last Updated: Nov 23, 2016 9:24 AM ET The proposed legislation would allow adults access to vaping products that are likely less harmful alternatives to tobacco use, Health Canada says.(Frank Franklin II/Associated Press) The federal government plans to regulate e-cigarettes to make vaping products less accessible to young people."The proposed act amends the Tobacco Act to regulate vaping products as a separate class of products," Health Canada said in a statement on Tuesday.The aim is to protect young people and non-users from nicotine addiction while allowing adults access to e-cigarettes.

"We know that there is some evidence to suggest that the use of vaping products can be used as a harm-reduction tool for people who are current smokers," Health Minister Jane Philpott told reporters in the Commons."But at same time, they have [been] shown to be an enticement for young people to take up smoking and become addicted to nicotine."The government aims to regulate the manufacture, sale, labelling and promotion of e-cigarettes and vaping products.Plain packaging a hit with cigarette opponents A key part of the legislation introduced in the Senate is to regulate health claims, such as that a vaping product will help smokers quit.The legislation would cover vaping products with and without nicotine.Other measures in the proposed legislation include: A ban on the sale and promotion of all vaping products to those under age 18.Prohibiting the promotion of flavours that appeal to youth, such as candy flavours.Creating regulatory authority to display health warnings on vaping devices.

Proposed federal legislation would include provisions 'restricting certain flavours, like candy, that appeal to youth,' Health Canada says.(Melanie Glanz/CBC) Rob Cunningham, a senior policy adviser at the Canadian Cancer Society, said e-cigarettes should be regulated."The new federal legislation will deal with areas of federal responsibility, such as advertising and promotion, packaging, the product itself, use in federally regulated workplaces and public places."Cunningham said the new federal legislation would complement provincial legislation adopted in eight provinces.e cigarette 500 puffsAlberta and Saskatchewan lack e-cigarette laws.e cigarette appThe contents of the bill largely follow the recommendations of the federal health committee, he said.e cigarette health canada

But it doesn't address another way teens get e-cigarettes, said Yan Bar, owner of Eastern Bloc Vapes in Toronto."The internet is wide open, and that goes with just about everything these days," Bar said.Child-resistant packaging for vaping products is also proposed to protect children from the risk of nicotine poisoning.Data from the 2015 Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey suggests that in 2015, 26 per cent of Canadians aged 15 to 19 reported having ever tried an e-cigarette, up from 20 per cent in 2013.Imperial wants to sell e-cigarettes, vaping products Spin, Science and E-Cigarettes, CBC Radio's White Coat, Black Art The proposed legislation would also implement plain packaging for tobacco products, similar to the law in Australia.Brand colours, logos and graphics on tobacco packages would be restricted.In May, the department announced three months of public consultations on the move.For more on vaping in Canada, watch the fifth estate episode below: Stay Connected with CBC News Mobile Facebook Podcasts Alerts Newsletter Top News Headlines Derek Saretzky hung out with toddler he's accused of murdering and her mother year before killings 'They just simply don't know': The Indigenous innovators challenging Canadians to a difficult conversation Ralph Goodale can’t confirm reports of Canadian connection in Michigan airport knife attack Trudeau to drop name of residential schools proponent from Langevin building Latest Health News Headlines Children's weight, physical activity linked to parents: report Vaccines can be blamed for illnesses without proof: EU court Coconut oil health claims not all they're cracked up to be, says report Canada's pharma companies disclose payments to doctors for 1st time Features 1 in 2 Canadians will get cancer: Cancer Society 1 in 4 will die of disease, organization said in annual cancer statistics report Most Viewed 1 in 2 Canadians will get cancer: Cancer Society Canada's pharma companies disclose payments to doctors for 1st time 'Our new normal': Hard-hit Ohio community fears opioid overdoses will be perpetual crisis U.S.

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And businesses, especially in the transportation sector, have moved to prohibit use of the devices.READ MORE: Are e-cigarette poisonings on the rise in Canada?But as e-cigarettes have gone from niche to mainstream, Health Canada — which many people feel should lead the charge to establish Canadian rules — has so far been silent.Other levels of government have decided they simply cannot delay any longer.“It would have been, from my perspective, more effective if we’d been able to move forward in a co-ordinated fashion.But we can’t afford to sit and wait for the feds to figure out where they’re going to go,” says Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health.With a federal election slated for the fall and Parliament’s summer break mere weeks away, it seems clear the legislation Strang and others are looking for will be a job for the next federal government.David Hammond, a public health professor at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ont., says e-cigarettes have created a quandary for Health Canada.“They appear to be frozen,” says Hammond, whose research focuses on tobacco control, harm reduction and, in recent years, e-cigarettes.“I think they’re absolutely twisted in knots about this.

Most regulators are.”READ MORE: U.S.officials want to regulate e-cigarettes – is Canada following?In fact, the products pose a legal and ethical challenge, not only for Health Canada but all involved in the public health movement that has, over decades, succeeded in driving down smoking rates by limiting how cigarettes can be packaged and sold and where they can be smoked.Some anti-tobacco advocates want e-cigarettes to be treated exactly like cigarettes.They argue the devices perpetuate nicotine addiction, may entice teens to take up smoking, and could undermine the hard-fought smoking bans.“Smoke-free places are a great motivator for people to quit.And if you were to undermine that, then you undermine the benefits of one of the key tobacco control strategies,” says Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst for the Canadian Cancer Society.But other anti-tobacco proponents see the devices as an opportunity to get hardcore smokers to stop consuming nicotine in a way that endangers their health and the health of those around them.“I’m very big on the idea of alternative nicotine and I see electronic cigarettes … as an indication of where we could go,” says David Sweanor, a University of Ottawa law professor who has worked for years in tobacco control.READ MORE: How will new U.S.

rules change e-cigarette business?The potential promise and perceived perils of e-cigarettes have driven a huge wedge through the anti-tobacco community.“There are bitter divides in terms of people’s opinions,” says Hammond.“They still share the same goal.It’s actually just that people think that these products are going to push the needle in different directions.”The legal status quo in Canada is this: e-cigarettes that are sold with e-juice containing nicotine, or which make health claims, fall under the Food and Drug Act, Health Canada says.That law requires Health Canada’s approval to import, advertise or sell these products.And to date, Health Canada has not approved a single e-cigarette.So in theory it should be impossible to buy e-cigarettes with nicotine-containing e-juice in Canada.There’s a lot of daylight between theory and reality, however.“You can (find them) down any Main Street,” says Hammond.“I’ve got one (store) about 100 metres from my office.They’re selling nicotine containing e-juice.”Health Canada may be working on new rules for e-cigarettes.

(The Canadian Press asked the department for an interview on the issue, but received written answers to questions instead.)Last fall, Health Minister Rona Ambrose asked the health committee of the House of Commons to study e-cigarettes.The committee’s report, written after a series of consultations, was issued March 10.It recommends the federal government establish a new legal framework for e-cigarettes, sold with or without nicotine e-juice.It recommends banning sales to minors, prohibiting use in federally regulated public places, restricting advertising of the products, barring the sale of e-juice flavours — such as candy flavourings — aimed at the youth market, and establishing limits on how much nicotine e-juice can contain.“This parliamentary report, I think for the first time, will require them to be explicit, not just about their current position but potentially where they might go.And that, I think, would benefit everybody,” Hammond says.Under Parliamentary rules, Health Canada must respond to the report within 120 days, which means by July 8.