Vaping industry says federal government's move to regulate e-cigarettes long overdue

As the Liberal government announcedon Tuesday that it plans to introduce legislation later this fall to regulate vaping, some within the industry are applauding the move.

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BejuLakhani, former president of the Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) and current CEO of Vape Brands International,a Canadian manufacturer and distributor of vaping products, saidfederal regulations are long overdue.

"The CVA,and myself as a business owner, I think we're quite pleased to see the federal government moving to regulate the industry," Lakhani said, adding that industry stakeholders like himself have been advocating for such a move.

"In the [Health Canada]statement Ithink some of the things that we especially appreciate are the call for a balanced approach,balancing both the need to protect youth ...while at the same time also acknowledging the need to haverelatively easy accessibility for adult smokers who are looking to use the product as a less harmful alternative to tobacco."

Lakhani saidthe vaping industry has lacked federal oversight, and instead has been dealing with "a patchwork of provincial regulations" that have been problematic.

"In Quebec, we had almost a complete shutdown of the industry by the provincial government when they erroneously chose to lump vaping products in with tobacco without any distinction at all," he said.

Lakhani saidthe industry has beenself-regulating, which includes a ban on selling productsto individuals under the age of 19. He also noted thattheElectronic Cigarette Trade Associationof Canada introduced measures in 2011 such astesting of e-liquids for various contaminants, child safety caps andproper labelling on bottles to inform people of the dangers that may be present that have been adopted industry-wide.

"t made sure consumers knew if they were dealing with a company that was abiding by these guidelines, they were dealing with a responsible company," saidLakhani."And it also gave the government, we hope, a bit of a template in which they can follow should they choose to."

Avoiding mistakes

ShaiBekman, owner and president of DashVapes, a Canadian retailer and distributor of vapeproducts with locations in Toronto, hopes Ottawa will adopt some of the ECTA'sregulations.

"We hope that our government does not make the same mistakes that the FDAin the States did," saidBekman, who is a member of the CVA."We hope the regulations they do introduce allow the industry to grow and for smokers to have access to an alternative."

Bekmansaidthe FDA places restrictions on the vapingindustry that deter consumers from patronizing shops.

"When a customer [in the U.S.]comes in and they want to sample a flavour, they have to pay a fee to do that and that fee is determined by the FDA," he said."It actually discourages people from trying to come in andvapebecause they're like, 'What if Idon't like it?Then I'm losing money.'"

Lakhani notedthat a similar move was proposed in Ontario under Bill 45, butthe bill has been pushed back. He hopes that if or when the billis reintroduced, the government has also reconsidereda stipulation that would have banned vaping in all public spaces, which would have included vapour stores.

"Our view is that vaping in vapour stores is quite sensible to doing what the federal government would like to do, which is allowing adult smokers to access these products and make decisions that can allow them to use products that are less harmful," he said.

'Safe for people to consume'

The industry would like to see the federal guidelinesinclude consumer protections, suchas manufacturing requirements so all products meet a specific safety standard.

"We want to make sure the products that are being produced in Canada meet certain requirements and are safe for people to consume," Lakhani said.

He also supports restricting access to minors.

"Weknow that as an alternative to tobacco, there are very real benefits that exist," he said. "In order to make sure that those benefits are being highlightedand some of the negatives are mitigated, these type of adult-only type restrictions and manufacturing standardsmake a lot of sense."