National Post editorial board: Kathleen Wynne's war on evidence

E-cigarettes are safer than tobacco. Why is the government making it harder to access them?


Electronic cigarettes have become immensely popular in recent years among smokers looking for a healthier alternative to the often-deadly habit. Retail outlets specializing in e-cigarettes have sprung up in communities across the country and companies are racing to patent new innovations in e-cigarette technology.

It’s easy to see why e-cigarettes have gained so much attention lately: As Robert West, a professor at University College London, who was part of a research study on e-cigarettes, told the BBC: “You have to be a bit crazy to carry on smoking conventional cigarettes when there are e-cigarettes available.”

Indeed, although most of the academic literature on electronic cigarettes says that more research is needed on their long-term health effects (the devices were only invented in 2003), there is already little question that they are a much safer alternative to tobacco smoke. There are also a wealth of studies showing that the vapour produced by e-cigarettes is not harmful to bystanders (unlike second-hand smoke).

Despite the research that suggests e-cigarettes have the potential to save millions of lives worldwide — including some of the 13,000 Ontarians who die of tobacco-related illnesses every year — Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government has introduced legislation that would treat e-cigarettes as if they were real cigarettes.

The bill would make it much harder for retailers to sell electronic cigarettes and limit the number of places people could use them. While the government presumably wants people to quit smoking and lead healthier lives, this bill will have the opposite effect, by making it harder for Ontarians to switch to healthier alternatives to tobacco products. It will also hurt many small businesses, by preventing them from selling or advertising their products and making vapour lounges illegal.

If the Ontario Liberals really believe in evidence-based policy making, they should treat e-cigarettes as a harm-reduction technology that should be freely available to anyone over the age of 19, instead of pretending they have anything in common with the cigarettes of yesteryear.

National Post