British Columbia tables historic legislation to target vaping advertising

The British Columbia government has tabled what it says is the first law in Canada to recover health care costs from companies that use "deceptive practices" to sell vaping products.

Attorney General Niki Sharma said Wednesday in Victoria that the legislation is modelled after similar laws the government used to sue tobacco companies and opioid manufacturers.

She said some vaping companies have "engaged in deceptive practices to boost their profits" by marketing their products as safe and sometimes even beneficial, often targeting impressionable youth despite "knowing full well how untrue their claims are."

"It's always better when companies don't do these kinds of things, when they don't target people with deceptive practices about their products," Sharma said.

BC was the first pr