QUEBEC CITY — In the burgeoning neighbourhood of St-Roch in Quebec City, “E-vap” is all the rage.
“They’ve opened up here in April, ever since then it’s been like major boom,” said employee Eric Mainguy.
Clients at the modern-looking store were testing out flavours for their electronic cigarettes, inhaling vapors that typically are said to contain vegetable glycerine, propylene glycol and nicotine.
READ MORE: Two sides to the e-cigarette debate
Diane Lamarre is the former head of the Quebec Order of Pharmacists and the health critic for the Parti Québécois.
She told Global News that most e-cigarettes are manufactured in China and many are concerned that the benefits and risks are still largely unknown.
“We are not sure exactly what they contain.”
“The other problem is marketing strategies tend to make this like it’s helping smokers to stop,” said Lamarre.
“But in fact, they strongly want non-smokers to start smoking.”
The target market, according to Lamarre, is kids as young as 11 or 12.
She said she has noticed e-smokes come in various shapes that many consider cool.
“I rarely see kids below the age of 25, hardly saw any,” countered Mainguy.
He insisted even if a teenager did drop by his store, he wouldn’t make the sale, although legally speaking, he could.
This legal vacuum is what brought Cote Saint-Luc Mayor Anthony Housefather to draft a bylaw this week, restricting the use of e-cigarettes in public places.
“We want to be avant-garde,” he told Global News. ”
“Technology has advanced, people are now using e-cigarettes and I think we need to deal with it the same way we deal with actual cigarettes because we don’t know the health effects of e-cigarettes.”
Watch: No e-cigarettes in Cote St-Luc
The mayor urged the Couillard government to do the same, and quickly.
“I hope that Quebec will act as reasonably quickly as it can to pass this province-wide.”
The province’s Social Services Minister, Lucie Charlebois, said it’s on her to-do list, adding that she is not convinced that e-cigarettes may be all that bad.
Many smokers, she pointed out, have been advised to use the gadget to help them quit.
That’s why 27-year-old Mathieu Robin was out shopping Friday.
“Smoking tobacco is expensive and it’s bad for you.”
“I feel much better vaping,” he said between puffs.
Watch: The benefits of e-cigarettes
Government regulations could make the sale of e-cigarettes to minors illegal, limit advertising and restrict where e-cigarettes can be vaped.
The debate will continue this fall.
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