Health Canada 'missing in action' on youth vaping crisis, experts say

This is an excerpt from Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers. If you haven't subscribed, you can do that by clicking here.

Health Canada is "missing in action" on the regulation of e-cigarette flavours in Canada as youth vaping rates rise, health advocates say, and at a time when the vaping industry is expanding into highly addictive new devices that experts warn appeal directly to kids.

The federal government sounded the alarm in June 2021 over a "rapid increase in youth vaping in Canada" and proposed changes to the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act to regulate the sale of "desirable flavours" helping drive the rising use among teens.

But two years later, Canada still has some of the highest rates of youth vaping in the world and little action has been taken to regulate flavours at a national level.

Vaping has been marketed as an effective way to quit smoking, but e-cigarettes have never been approved as smoking cessation aids in Canada.

The federal government's proposal to restrict e-cigarettes flavours — such as cereal milk, cotton candy, "unicorn milk" and "dragon's blood" — was expected to help make vaping products "less appealing to youth" while still giving adults trying to quit smoking some flavour options to choose from.

But experts and health advocates say Health Canada seems to have shelved the proposal, walked away from further regulating flavours that appeal to youth and left it up to the industry and provinces to take action.

"It's been several years since governments were advised about the need to regulate  e-cigarettes and vaping devices thoughtfully and appropriately," said Dr. Andrew Pipe, a heart specialist and physician in Ottawa dubbed the "Indiana Jones of smoking cessation."

"The federal government has frankly been missing in action, which is inexplicable to me," he added. "The silence of Health Canada is deafening."

David Hammond, a public health professor at the University of Waterloo and a leading Canadian youth vaping researcher, said the federal government implied they were either going to, or were considering, banning flavours, but "they've not done anything."

"They've never said publicly that they're not going forward with further flavour restrictions," he said. "But I think it's safe to infer that they're not, because they just haven't moved on it."

Meanwhile, the vaping industry has dramatically expanded its availability of flavours and recently shifted to new discrete, disposable e-cigarettes that hold thousands of pre-loaded puffs, don't require refilling or cartridges and are linked to a surge in youth vaping.

"They've been shown in the United States and the United Kingdom to be very popular among youth," said Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst at the Canadian Cancer Society. 

"A teenager can have it with him or her all the time in their backpack or their pocket and there's no liquid or pods at home for their parent to find."