Experts slam e-cigarette claims of suppressing appetite, boosting libido

CTV Vancouver: Doctors deny E-cigarettes boon A new and controversial e-cigarette being sold locally is getting the thumbs down from concerned parents and doctors.

There are currently around 500 brands of e-cigarettes on the market and 10 more brands being added every month but a new and controversial e-cigarette being sold locally is getting the thumbs down from concerned parents and doctors.

The Get Vapes e-cigarettes, with names like “Get Lean”, “Get Energized” and “Get Intimate” claim to boost your libido, suppress your appetite and even give you a jolt of energy.

The “Get Lean” product contains hoodia, a supplement often touted as a herbal diet pill. The “Get Energized” product contains caffeine and the “Get Intimate” has a so-called natural aphrodisiac called epimedium.

But if you want to know how much of the ingredient is inside the e-cigarettes, you won’t be able to find out. The package doesn't say. The company’s website listed on the package, www.getvapes.ca, doesn't exist.

"These products are not regulated in any way, so doses and quality control is essentially non-existent," said Dr. Milan Khara, head of the Smoking Cessation Clinic at Vancouver General Hospital.

Health Canada considers the Get Vapes e-cigarettes to be natural health products and said in an email, "These products require market authorization in the form of a natural product number in order to be legally sold in Canada."

No such product number exists on the Get Vapes e-cigarettes, sold on special promotional racks at Rexall drug stores.

Dr. Khara also believes these e-cigarettes are being marketed to teenagers and young people. But Rexall denies that claim.

"We don't promote or market this product to children. Period. E-cigarettes are a legal product in Canada," said Derek Tupling, director of corporate communications at Rexall.

Still, some health officials are concerned, that like the candy cigarette of old, these new designer e-cigarettes might actually entice children to start smoking the real thing.

"These products in the hands of eight or ten-year olds, may well be setting them on a road to the use of traditional cigarettes," said Dr. Khara.