OTTAWA — The federal government has served notice it is moving to ban the sale of menthol cigarettes because of their appeal to young and first-time smokers.
The posting in the latest Canada Gazette starts the clock on a 30-day public comment period.
The government notice says that steering youngsters away from that first cigarette is one of the most effective means of reducing lifetime smokers.
Flavoured tobacco products were banned by the former Conservative government in 2009 but menthol cigarettes were exempted.
The notice from the Health Department notes that a smoking survey in 2012 found that 37 per cent of young smokers reported smoking a menthol cigarette in the previous 30 days.
In 2014, menthol tobacco products made up almost five per cent of the total tobacco market, with menthol cigarettes making up 98 per cent of sales.
"While no specific data is available on the proportion of youth who use cigars and blunt wraps that contain menthol, the demonstrated interest of youth in menthol cigarettes and in flavoured tobacco products in general makes it is reasonable to infer that youth would find them appealing as well," the Canada Gazette says.
Five provinces — Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia — already ban menthol cigarettes and Prince Edward Island has legislation pending.
Rob Cunningham of the Canadian Cancer Society says menthol serves no other purpose than to mask the harsh taste of tobacco for new smokers.
"It makes it easier for kids to experiment and get addicted and it serves as a bit of a local anesthetic," Cunningham said in an interview.
"There's absolutely no reason why an addictive, cancer-causing product such as cigarettes should have flavouring to make it taste better. And so a ban on menthol is absolutely the right thing to do."
Health Canada says tobacco use is the country's leading, preventable cause of disease, responsible for more than 37,000 deaths each year and costing $4.4 billion in direct health-care costs.
