Smoke-Free Canada Called for Shisha Tobacco Ban

Tobacco control laws should be extended to cover shisha tobacco and other products that don't fall under existing Canadian legislation, a group of doctors said Tuesday. Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada called on the federal government to do more to reduce the appeal of smoking, especially among young people. In 2009, the government amended the Tobacco Act to ban the sale of mini-cigars, called cigarillos, in packages of fewer than 20, the sale of flavoured cigarillos, blunt wraps and cigarettes, and to ban print advertising of tobacco products. Dr. Atul Kapur, president of the physicians group, said the amendments didn't go far enough and tobacco companies are taking advantage of loopholes. He told a news conference on Parliament Hill that companies have modified their products and packages so they are technically in accordance with the law while still selling products the government aimed to ban. For example, some companies have simply expanded the size of their products from mini-cigars to cigars and added flavours to them because cigars aren't covered by the law, Kapur said. "Labelling is also an issue," he said, adding that some tobacco products sold to Canadians have no health warnings and don't meet minimum international standards. "This lax way of labelling downplays the deadliness of the products."