Illegal use of flavours in vaping products: Over 200 outlets in Québec flout provincial regulations

Imperial Tobacco Canada urges the government to address the issue by taking the necessary measures to enforce the new regulations and apply the necessary penalties to retailers who contravene the law

MONTRÉAL, Feb. 1, 2024 /CNW/ - Three months after the law banning flavours in vaping products came into force, the Québec government now finds itself faced with a large number of retail outlets which either infringe on the law or otherwise are using a variety of tactics to circumvent the law. As a leader in the Canadian vaping market, Imperial Tobacco Canada is urging the government to buckle down on enforcing its law.

"We are aware of the growing concern with the proliferation of products that circumvent the regulations, resulting in the creation of an illicit market," declared Eric Gagnon, Vice-President of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs at Imperial Tobacco Canada. "We recently identified over 200 sales outlets that sell non-compliant vaping products. These stores have not adjusted to the new regulations and continue to offer a wide range of flavoured products, including those that exceed the maximum permitted quantity of 2 ml."

Moreover, all of these stores now sell flavour enhancers as a way to circumvent the new regulation. Given that these enhancers are not intended to be vaped, they can pose serious risks to consumers who use them.  It is also because of a similar illegal market that a wave of lung diseases spread between 2019 and 2020 in the U.S., claiming 68 lives.

Instead of meeting its initial objective of tackling the issue of vaping among young people, the government has unfortunately created another major problem. There is now a thriving illicit market that circumvents the main provisions of the law governing the use of flavours in vaping products and continues to offer illegal and unregulated alternatives to its customers with complete impunity.

During an appearance on Tout le monde en parle on Sunday, January 21, Health Minister Christian Dubé blamed tobacco companies for the situation. Imperial Tobacco Canada strongly refutes these false allegations and instead invites the government to acknowledge the problem created by its own regulations.

"As a responsible company that fully complies with the regulations in place, we denounce these abuses and reiterate our call for stronger enforcement of the law," concluded Mr. Gagnon. "We warned the Minister's office several months ago about the inevitable collateral damage that would result from such a regulation being implemented. Unfortunately, nothing was done, and the situation persists as a result."

Imperial Tobacco Canada is Canada's leading tobacco and vaping products company and is part of the world's most international tobacco group: BAT. BAT is a global multi-category consumer goods business, operating in over 180 markets. Our vision is to build A Better Tomorrowtm by reducing the health impact of our business through offering a greater choice of enjoyable and less risky products for our consumers.

SOURCE Imperial Tobacco Canada