Laws Would Stop Flavored Tobacco Gap

Thunder Bay-based health groups that have long fought against flavored-tobacco products aimed at teenagers are applauding a private members bill expected to put the kibosh on those sales. “When you see these (flavored) products for the first time, you find it hard to believe that they’re even on the market at all,” Dan DePeuter, a youth development specialist with Thunder Bay District Health Unit, said Thursday. DePeuter was reacting to a bill introduced this week by Sudbury NDP MPP France Gelinas which intends to outlaw the sale of products like candy-flavored cigarillos that have managed to avoid current laws through size changes. Gelinas’ bill would also ban candy-flavored chewing tobacco. Flavored tobacco, sometimes called “gateway” products because it often introduces youth to cigarettes, “is a topic we’ve been working on for some time now,” said DePeuter. “Hopefully, tobacco companies won’t be able to get around the law (if Gelinas’ bill passes).” The bill is resonating among Northwestern Ontario health officials because the region continues to have a higher youth smoking rate when compared to the rest of the province. The four-year-old Flavor Gone! Initiative originated in Thunder Bay. DePeuter said recent surveys show that 16 per cent of Northwestern Ontario high school students smoke cigarettes. In the rest of the province, the figure is 12 per cent. When all tobacco products, like chewing tobacco are included, the figure for Northwestern Ontario climbs to 25 per cent, said DePeuter. Gelinas’ bill appears to have the support of the government. “This proposed legislation certainly makes a lot of sense to me,” said Natural Resources Minister Michael Gravelle (L-Thunder Bay-Superior North). “We have made a great deal of progress in reducing smoking rates, and I am pleased the Minister of Health has said that she will take a close look at Ms. Gelinas bill. Certainly I plan to do the same.” In 2008, Gelinas introduced a bill that banned the sale of individually packaged flavored cigarillos.