CANADIANS DESERVE TRANSPARENCY

Описание: CANADIANS DESERVE TRANSPARENCY

Public policy is strongest when it is grounded in clear, product-specific evidence that is openly available for public scrutiny. In the case of premium cigars, regulatory measures have been applied using generalized tobacco frameworks rather than research that examines premium cigars as a distinct product category.

Premium cigars differ materially from other tobacco products in their composition, manufacturing methods, patterns of use, and consumer behavior. They are typically handmade, produced using whole-leaf tobacco, are not designed for inhalation, and are consumed infrequently by a distinct adult demographic. These characteristics are widely acknowledged in academic literature and international policy discussions, yet they have not been independently evaluated within the Canadian regulatory record.

A review of publicly cited sources used to justify tobacco regulation does not identify studies that specifically assess premium cigars on their own merits. Instead, conclusions are derived from aggregated tobacco data that combines cigarettes, mass-market cigarillos, and other products with fundamentally different risk profiles and usage patterns. From a scientific perspective, this limits the accuracy and relevance of regulatory risk assessment.

Evidence-based regulation requires proportionality. When materially different products are treated as equivalent without separate analysis, the result is policy by assumption rather than policy by evidence. Transparency requires that Canadians be able to review the scientific basis used to justify regulatory decisions, particularly when those decisions affect lawful adult products, cultural traditions, and small businesses.

This is not a challenge to public health objectives. It is a request for methodological clarity. Canadians deserve to know whether premium cigars were evaluated independently using data that reflects how they are actually produced and used, or whether conclusions were inferred from unrelated product categories.

Show Canadians the evidence.