The majority of vape flavors are about to be outlawed in Canada, which would also force producers to rework flavors that are now permitted using a limited range of components that Health Canada has authorized. The government authorized the new restrictions almost three years ago, but they have been inactive ever since.
The proposed Health Canada rule will provide manufacturers with a list of less than 100 acceptable flavoring ingredients and require that only these be used to create e-liquid—and only in tobacco, mint, and menthol flavors. This is in contrast to most flavored vape bans, which forbid specific flavor descriptors or "characterizing flavors."
All forms of sweeteners are prohibited as flavorings. In 2021, the regulatory body said that it anticipated reworking 80–85% of the current goods in the permitted flavor categories in order to comply with the revised specifications. Furthermore, the laws aim to "prescribe standards for sensory attributes to prevent the perception of tobacco or mint/menthol in an unusual way." Put otherwise, producers won't be allowed to, say, blend tobacco tastes with caramel or mint flavors with fruit flavors.
Flavored vape pens are already prohibited in five Canadian provinces and territories. Last October, Quebec started enforcing its ban on flavors. Similar legislation previously existed in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the Northwest Territories, and New Brunswick. Nunavut also enacted a prohibition, although it hasn't specified when it would go into effect.
Nevertheless, more than 70% of Canadians have access to tastes even with all those flavor regulations in place. The most widely consumed tastes in the nation will be eliminated under the proposed regulation from Health Canada.
The Law of Phantom Taste
Following the required public comment, Health Canada issued new rules in the Canada Gazette on June 19, 2021, announcing the government's plan to enact the flavor ban within six months. Businesses and vape enthusiasts braced themselves for the largest upheaval to hit the Canadian vape industry to date.
Then something occurred, or more accurately, nothing occurred. Health Canada's announcements on the taste ban and its need in papers and social media vanished, and the flavor rule that was supposed to go into effect in January 2022 never materialized. Vapers started breathing better over time, suggesting that maybe there wouldn't be a taste prohibition.
Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, a leading advocate of outlawing vape flavors, even threw the towel in March 2023. In an article they published, the hardliners against tobacco regulation speculated that the taste rule was complete. They regretted that "it now seems prudent to conclude that the flavor ban has been left to die on the vine."
Become acquainted with Health Minister Mark Holland.
After a year, the taste ban has come back to life, most likely as a result of the work of one individual: recently appointed Health Minister Mark Holland. Naturally, the minister has the support of the standard special interest medical and tobacco control organizations that are always against consumer-facing nicotine products, such as Heart & Stroke, his old workplace.
Holland served as an employee of Heart & Stroke (previously known as the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada) from 2011 until he was re-elected to the House of Commons in 2015. Holland, a rising star in the Liberal Party, is the representative for an Ontario constituency called Ajax.
Holland, the former "national director of children and youth" at Heart & Stroke, has shown the kind of zealous anti-tobacco stance you would anticipate from someone who was appointed Minister of Health last summer.
During a recent press release conference, Holland said, "I was with Heart & Stroke when we dealt with the issue of vaping, and there were many voices at that time, when information was uncertain, who said, 'Let this exist as a cessation tool.'" Refrain from acting. Sadly, this meant that the tobacco business was able to introduce something that is very harmful to young people's health to a whole new group of individuals who had never been exposed to nicotine. The results have been very detrimental to our healthcare system.
"There are approximately 1.8 million vapers throughout Canada, and many of them prefer flavors other than those that Health Canada intends to allow."
Holland does not understand the advantages of non-flammable goods, such as nicotine packs and vapes, which provide consumers with an alternative to cigarettes while reducing damage. He views everything that contains nicotine as either a "deadly" tobacco product or a "cessation product." It is difficult to see how a government representative who has such a binary perspective on nicotine usage could ever lead Canada's vaping policy in a way that is fair and reasonable. He isn't, in fact.
Health authorities allowed some members of the vape sector to attend pointless stakeholder sessions in March to discuss the resurrected flavor regulation, but they did not give consumers any notice or opportunity to provide feedback. Instead, it seemed like they were pushing through the three-year-old proposal.
According to a press release from Vaping Industry Trade Association (VITA) Managing Director Thomas Kirsop, "this appears to be an individual legacy project for the Minister of Health, backed strongly by his former peers at the Heart & Stroke Foundation, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Lung Association, and a number of smaller anti-smoking NGOs,"
Canadian Vaporizer Users: Voice Your Opinions
The legal consumer's options for vaping will be severely limited by the proposed flavor restriction, which would also irreversibly damage independent vape retailers and the vaping sector as a whole. In Canada, there are around 1.8 million vapers, and most of them choose flavors other than those that Health Canada plans to permit. Many people will be forced to resume smoking as a result of the proposed Health Canada regulation, which would also fuel the growth of the disposable vape industry.
According to economist Ian Irvine of Concordia University, Canadians would do everything in their power to get around a flavor prohibition, legal or criminal. This is stated in an article published in the Financial Post. "Legal businesses will fail, as demonstrated in Quebec and Nova Scotia." Health Canada will have contributed to Canada's decreased health by limiting the number of cigarette quitters, while the illicit industry will prosper.
How can Canadian vapors, together with their loved ones, voice their disapproval of the government's harsh taste regulations?
Up to now, about 12,000 vapers have created a letter protesting the regulations via the website of the campaign organization Rights4Vapers. Rights4Vapers will send copies of your letter to your Member of Parliament, Health Canada, Health Minister Holland, and Associate Health Minister (Minister of Mental Health and Addictions) Ya'ara Saks when you have completed writing it.
