Canada: 3 Tobacco Companies Launch Vaping Trade Association

Source from:  VapingPost 12/04/2019

Tobacco companies Imperial Tobacco Canada and JTI Canada Tech, together with e-cigarette company Juul Labs Canada, which is partly owned by tobacco company Altria Inc., have launched the Vaping Industry Trade Association (VITA) with the intention of fighting against proposed government regulations.

The Vaping Industry Trade Association (VITA) was officially launched last month, and president Daniel David said that the aim is ensuring that regulations aimed at preventing youth access, do not come in the way of adults smokers being able to make use of the devices. Juul Labs Canada, Imperial Tobacco Canada and JTI Canada Tech are three of VITA’s founding members, and government relations firm, One Persuasion, has been hired to assist with lobbying efforts.

Governments are facing mounting pressure to tighten e-cig regulations amidst the ever increasing number of “vape-related” lung disease cases in the US. “As of November 20, 2019, 2,290 cases of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI) have been reported to CDC from 49 states (all except Alaska), the District of Columbia, and 2 U.S. territories (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands),” says the CDC website.  Enditem