Ottawa, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2014 -- The introduction of electronic cigarettes created debate due to its health risks. A growing number of people are using e-cigarettes to help them quit tobacco and cigarettes amidst non-approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its smoking cessation. While some consider them as beneficial since they help traditional smokers quit, there are still a number of people who worry that since e-cigarettes deliver a vapour with nicotine, using it would promote nicotine addiction. Users of e-cigarettes believe that the vapor would be much less toxic than cigarette because there is no tar from tobacco incineration thus it addresses the issues with smoking. However, little information are given to users on its long-term effect. Health Canada has taken the necessary steps to get a handle on the booming market for the controversial devices.

Health Canada’s Controlled Substances and Tobacco Directorate suggested to grant a contract amounting to $232,000 to Montreal firm AC Nielsen to generate historical data for the past two (2) years on retail sales of electronic cigarettes in Canada including the current monthly totals. The data will be crucial for Health Canada to be updated on the number of type of electronic cigarettes and nicotine substitute treatment products that are being sold in retail stores involving companies, as well as their sales trends. The data would also be used by the Federal Tobacco Control Strategy for their current project of tracking tobacco-related development and rising concerns and commitment to push the downward trend in smoking frequency in Canada.

Statistics revealed that the lowest rate of smokers in Canada was in 2012 with 16% smokers from the age group 15 years old and above. There has been a significant improvement on this as compared to 2001’s 25%.

Sales of e-cigarettes in the United States since its introduction in North America in 2007 has ballooned to nearly $2 billion yearly. This figure is expected to zoom up to $10 billion across the globe by 2017. In Canada, there has been no reliable source of such sales figures amidst the popularity of e-cigarettes.

The existence of electronic cigarettes in Canada is still in a mandated grey area. Though they are being sold legally, Health Canada, still, has not approved the so-called “nicotine e-cigarettes”. In fact, on 2009, Canadians were warned about its use due to the health risks that these e-cigarettes pose. Until now, e-cigarretes in Canada haven’t been fully evaluated by Health Canada for quality, efficacy, and safety. The department has in fact ordered businesses offering electronic cigarettes to stop selling e-cigarettes with nicotine cartridges.

Using electronic cigarettes in Canada has become a major public concern, as agreed by Dr. Martin Laliberte, Director of the Canadian Association of Poison Control Centres. According to her, in Canada, there had been subjective reports suggesting e-cigarettes as a cause in poisoning, the trend that the United States of America has been experiencing. All five poison control centres in Canada has generated reports that poisoning due to the use of electronic cigarettes is becoming frequent.

The Canadian Public Health Association, in their most recent study, admit that they are challenged with authenticating the claims about the health risks that e-cigarettes pose due to their limited data. The scarcity of solid evidences should be favored by sensible approach on how sale of e-cigarettes are being managed.

About CanCigs
CanCigs is 100% Canadian owned and operated located in the heart of the Nations Capital. After nearly 1.5 years of research & development, they are happy to announce that they have partnered with the world leader in electronic cigarette design and manufacturing and they are proud to introduce consumers to the most technologically advanced and superiorly crafted electronic cigarettes sold in Canada today.

Through their extensive research, they have concluded that the overwhelming majority of consumers who are using electronic cigarettes would prefer to always have a pre-filled, fully charged e-cigarette on hand that is ready to be enjoyed at any moment. These same consumers also indicated that they would rather not have to deal with the frequency of filling the cartridges with e-juice and the tedious, time consuming process of cleaning the atomizers every few days. For these reasons, they have focused on their product line to meet the consumer demand.