Charges are pending against an Island vape retailer under the Tobacco and Electronic Smoking Devices Sales Act, for selling a smoking device to someone under the age of 19.

Ryan Neale, the manager of environmental health at the Department of Health and Wellness says the sale was made during a round of compliance checks, which involved 12 shops selling electronic smoking devices, of which two sold products to the underage buyers.

Neale said whenever the compliance checks result in the sale of a device or product to a minor, the department has to figure out if the employee that made the sale was sufficiently trained.

One, a retailer selling both traditional tobacco products as well as electronic smoking devices didn't have charges brought against it because Neale said the department found the employer had properly trained staff, so a warning was issued to the clerk who made the sale.

We are taking the same approach that we take with tobacco and I think that's a good approach because it's a strong regulatory and enforcement approach. - Dr. David Sabapathy

In the other case, staff weren't trained comprehensively enough, and Neale said a charge is pending though it hasn't been issued yet.

The department runs compliance checks where youth are trained and sent into different stores to see if they can purchase tobacco products from retailer.

Neale said this was the first time the checks involved dedicated vape shops as well as establishments that sell traditional tobacco products.

Vaping rates

Dr. David Sabapathy, the deputy chief public health officer, said the vape rate in the province according to data from 2015 shows about three per cent of Islanders use electronic smoking devices, which is on par with the Canadian average.

However, among young people that rate climbs to eight per cent which is slightly above the national average.

Sabapathy said the province is looking at vaping the same way it views smoking and the use of traditional tobacco products.

"We are taking the same approach that we take with tobacco and I think that's a good approach because it's a strong regulatory and enforcement approach," he said.

"As we know tobacco is the number one preventable cause of illness and death in Prince Edward Island."

Sabapathy also said some people may argue that vaping is different from tobacco smoking, and he agreed that in some ways it is, but that vaping is dangerous for youth.

"We talk about the potential for normalization around vaping and how it could be a gateway to tobacco and some of those are the concerns that have led us to take this regulatory approach."