Regulation of E-Cigarettes and Vaping for Ontario Youth

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) actively lobby the Ontario government to amend the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017, banning: 1) the sale of all flavoured vaping and e-cigarette products designed to appeal to youth; and 2) all advertisements that promote the use of vaping and e-cigarette products.

Action

For years, RNAO has advocated for evidence-based harm reduction approaches to tobacco use and has been a leader in providing best practice guidelines to assist nurses and other health providers in integrating smoking cessation interventions into clinical practice.

Throughout 2020, RNAO’s webinar series on the landscape and emerging issues with e-cigarettes educated and informed Ontario’s nurses on the prevalence of vaping, the mechanism of vaping through nicotine, the impacts of vaping and how nurses and other health providers support clients with prevention, protection, and cessation support.

On March 4, 2021 RNAO welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with the Pediatric Nurses Interest Group in providing feedback on Health Canada’s proposed Concentration of Nicotine in Vaping Products Regulations (CNVPR) urging to limit the concentration of nicotine in vaping products.

RNAO applauded Health Canada’s 2019 amendments to vaping regulations to require:

A nicotine concentration statement and health warning regarding toxicity and addiction on all vaping products containing nicotine

A list of ingredients for all vaping substances on product labels

A prohibition on nicotine concentrations, as well as regulation imposed by Ontario’s Ministry of Health to limit the promotion and sale of vaping products with nicotine concentrations greater than 20 mg/ml.

We also called for the following additional recommendations regarding vaping products in Canada:

Further curb youth use of vaping tobacco products by increasing the age requirement to 21 years under the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act

Ban the use of flavoured vaping and e-cigarette products designed to appeal to youth across the country under the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act For more details about our recommendations, please read our full submission online.

For more details about our recommendations, please read our full submission online.