TORONTO, Ontario -- Canada's convenience-store retailers are calling foul on a proposal to ban all flavored tobacco—including menthol—along with a ban on the sale of e-cigarettes to teenagers and further e-cig usage limits throughout the province.
The Canadian Convenience Stores Association (CCSA) believes statistics were used improperly while developing the menthol-ban proposal, diverting attention from the real culprit behind youth smoking: inexpensive and easily obtained contraband tobacco.
"There is no debate that we should be working toward zero tobacco consumption among youth," said Alex Scholten, president of the CCSA. "But the reality is some of these stats are being used to fix a problem where there's little to fix. It is taking attention away from how to deal with overall youth tobacco consumption and solutions to solving this problem in particular."
According to the 2012/2013 Youth Smoking Survey released by Health Canada, prevalence of youth having ever tried smoking a cigarette was at an all-time low. It showed that among Canadian students in grades 6 through 12 during the past year, 41% had used alcohol, 19% had smoked marijuana, 4% used non-prescribed pharmaceutical drugs and 4% used cigarettes.
Despite a continuous decline in youth smoking rates, misleading statistics are being promoted to cloud the debate on youth smoking in Canada, specifically with respect to menthol tobacco products, according to the CCSA.
In particular, a 2013 study conducted by the Propel Centre for Population Health Impact is frequently cited for its reportedly high use of menthol tobacco products by young people. Unlike the Health Canada study, Propel measured reported use of tobacco products in the past 30 days, as opposed to regular use. It did not sample the entire population, but only those who self-reported.
Retailers asked decision-makers at all levels of government to consider all of the facts when making decisions on a menthol ban, which represents a small but significant portion of adult tobacco sales in convenience stores.
Regardless, Associate Health Minister Dipika Damerla on Monday unveiled sweeping legislation that would ban flavored tobacco sales, including menthol, while also treating the unregulated electronic smokes like traditional cigarettes.
“If young kids see people smoking or vaping, they’re more likely to take up smoking or vaping,” Damerla said Monday, according to a report in The Star. “It’s the wild west right now.”
Under the proposed law, the sale and consumption of e-cigarettes would be banned for anyone under 19 years old as of Jan. 1, 2016, and their use would be restricted to the same places as regular cigarettes. Scofflaws would face cash fines.
Also Monday, Damerla announced the government would revive legislation requiring fast-food chains to post calories on menus. It would make Ontario the first province in Canada to have a menu-labelling law on the books.
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