Whilst Canada's looming flavour ban may have been postponed, various provinces and the Minister for Health have taken action to prevent the sale of flavoured nicotine products. Joining us today is Maria Papaioannoy to highlight the adverse impact these prospective bans may have on marginalized communities in Canada, and the broader implications these actions could have on the right to health.
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0:00 - Coming up on today's programme 0:43 - Has Canada's flavour ban been postponed? 3:39 - Minister of Health's controversial new powersTranscription:
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Joanna Junak: Hello and welcome. I'm Joanna Junak and this is GFN News on GFN.TV. The regulation of vaping products in Canada is constantly changing as the government works to balance public health concerns with the proportion of safer alternatives to replace smoking. Where does Canada stand on the role of vaping in tobacco harm reduction? Joining us today to discuss Canada's potential ban on flavoured nicotine products and the use of nicotine pouches as a safer alternative to smoking is Maria Papaioannoy, a prominent vaping activist from Ontario, Canada. This is part one of our interview with Maria. Part two will air on Friday. Hello, Maria. What is the forthcoming proposal currently being discussed in Canada regarding nicotine products?
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Maria Papaioannoy: Currently in Canada, we have something looming over us, a proposal to ban flavors. But in May of last year, we really advocated and came together as a country. And you have to remember, Canada is not like It takes like seven hours to fly coast to coast. So it's a very large landmass country. But over 25,000 Canadians sent unique letters to government to say not to do the flavor ban. They did say they were going to have a flavor ban at the national level in the spring. And that never happened. And we went through the entire summer and it never happened. So we're sort of in a limbo. What we are seeing, though, is regionally, province to province, governments, provincial governments trying to create flavor bans. Currently, the province of Prince Edward Island, Quebec, have flavor bans. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia has one as well. New Brunswick has one, but they're in a constitutional challenge there. So that's a little bit up in the air. And recently, Newfoundland. What we're finding is that the anti-tobacco regime in Canada, I feel as if they feel that they've lost their influence with Health Canada and now are targeting smaller markets like the provinces to be able to do a mishmash of regulations throughout the country. And they're penetrating. And that's why it's important that We get involved. We make sure that consumers' voices are heard and things can happen. So currently we have November 3rd. We're going to be in St. John's in Newfoundland and do a lived experience panel. And on November 4th, when Parliament opens for the province of Newfoundland, we will be having a rally and bringing in people from the province to be able to stand up against this flavor ban. And there's a lot of things happening along the way, but you have to follow us at Rates for Vapors to see what's going on.
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Joanna Junak: And what types of nicotine replacement therapy products have traditionally been available?
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Maria Papaioannoy: Well, I mean, we've always had NRT. So we have the pouch, the patches, the gum and the sprays and the lozenges. Recently, Zonic came into market and they went through the proper pharmaceutical NRT process. Our Minister of Health, who has a history of tobacco control, he worked for the Heart and Stroke Association, and he has biases, decided that he would create a law. And this is where we get in very dangerous territories. He decided and he asked for the government in our last budget to grant him the power, not him, but grant the role the power plays. to be able to remove any drug from market that the minister, the current and future ministers of health deem unsafe or unnecessary. So he used this power to remove flavored nicotine pouches, even though so many people opposed it. And what's scary about that is that we're not always guaranteed a government that protects marginalized members of our community's rights now all of a sudden minister holland people with addictions a marginalized community in canada has decided to seek powers he was granted the powers and now he took advantage of those powers to make it less make nicotine legal nicotine pouches less available to canadians my concern is how far will these powers go to further stop like we'll we'll the morning after pill, because we have a very right-wing conservative minister of health in the future, or what happens to hormone drugs, hormone blockers. So it is very scary, and it is also very scary of how someone that is an elected public servant is choosing to use their bias, their prior relationship, And I guess, you know, the heart and stroke gave him a job when no one else would at one of the lowest times of his life and using his role to push their agenda. Nicotine pouches are safe. They were approved by Health Canada from start to finish. And the flavors were similar to those that were found in other NRT products. And that scares me because, you know, Thankfully, in Canada, he doesn't have the power to touch vaping. It's our Minister of Addictions and Mental Health, and she seems to be a very sane, level-headed, follows the science kind of woman. He, on the other hand, doesn't. He's slightly hysterical.