Holland College bans e-cigarettes

P.E.I.'s Holland College has banned the use and sale of electronic cigarettes on all college property.

Tobacco hasn't been allowed at Holland College for some time, and now the school has banned electronic cigarettes as well.

"A recent change to our regulation made it a prohibited thing to do on campus," said college quality coordinator Brian Lambert.

"There was a number of concerns raised over the past year and we wanted to be proactive and make sure that we were ahead of the game when it came to prohibiting this practice."

The P.E.I. government has no regulations on e-cigarettes. Provincial officials are working with their federal counterparts to see if any are needed.

Ban use of e-cigarettes in workplaces and public places where smoking is banned-Rob Cunningham, Canadian Cancer Society

The Canadian Cancer Society is lobbying provincial governments to regulate the products. It wants to see the sale of e-cigarettes to minors made illegal, and their userestricted.

"There is a trend in the United States already to ban the use of e-cigarettes in workplaces and public places where smoking is banned," said Rob Cunningham of the Canadian Cancer Society.

"We believe that the Prince Edward Island government should do that, and we're expecting the Nova Scotia health minister to bring forward legislation this fall as well. P.E.I. could do the same."

Kevin Murphy, who owns 12 restaurants on P.E.I., would like to see more clarity on use of e-cigarettes. His establishments don't yet have a policy on them, and he would like to see some direction from the province.

"It's socially accepted that restaurants are non smoking and people look at e-cigarettes as a form of that, so that's probably the position we would take right now unless Health Canada or Health PEI legislated something that deemed otherwise," said Murphy.

Health Canada has not authorized any electronic cigarettes with nicotine or health claims, and is keeping a close eye on studies and how other countries are regulating them.