P.E.I. flavoured tobacco ban details coming

P.E.I. Health Minister Robert Henderson is preparing to unveil a ban on the sale of all flavoured tobacco -including menthol.

Government announced last June it would bring in the ban, but said it needed time to come up with the details, including whether menthol would be included. Henderson says over the past 10 months government has consulted with more than 200 stakeholders.

"We did have some dissenting views on that, and we can appreciate that," he said.

"If we're going to move forward like other provinces we want to make sure that we discourage younger people from getting their first cigarette at such a young age and it seems like the flavoured tobaccos seem to be an enticement to that."

Hendersonsaidpreventing young people from starting to smoke will make for a healthier population on P.E.I. in the future.

The minister saidhe'll release more details on the P.E.I. ban, including when it comes into effect, when he unveils a new cancer reduction strategy in the coming days.

The province of Alberta flip-flopped over whether to include menthol in its ban of flavoured tobacco. Now that province, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec are all being sued by Imperial Tobacco over includingmenthol in the bans.