Canada: Vancouver to Consider New E-cigarette Regulations

Source from:  CTV News  09/26/2014

Calls to regulate the sale and use of electronic cigarettes could soon be answered in the City of Vancouver.

On Tuesday, Councillors will be asked to consider bylaw amendments that would ban selling the battery-powered devices to minors, and force users to abide by the same rules as regular smokers.

That would mean no smoking e-cigarettes inside stores or within six metres of their doors or windows.

Dr. Meena Dawar of Vancouver Coastal Health said she hopes to see the regulations adopted. Health officials have been sounding the alarm about e-cigarettes ever since they came to Canada, even though the government requires the devices be nicotine-free.

"We're very concerned about the safety of these products and the long-term effects," Dawar told CTV News.

"They contain some of the same carcinogens as tobacco smoke, they contain many of the same heavy metals."

Dawar added it's possible to get "juice," the liquid used to create vapour in e-cigarettes, that contains nicotine, even though it's not permitted by Health Canada.

If all of Vancouver's proposed amendments are adopted, the word "vapourizing" would also be added to no-smoking signs in the city.
 
B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake said the province is looking at regulating e-cigarettes too, and will be discussing the issue with representatives from the federal government at a meeting next week in Alberta.

"If there isn't some national approach to electronic cigarettes, we certainly will take action here in British Columbia. The premier has mandated me to do that," Lake said.

The Union of B.C. Municipalities is also discussing e-cigarettes at its conference in Whistler this week.

Many school boards in B.C. have already banned e-cigarettes on school grounds to prevent students from potentially forming smoking habits. Enditem