A Voice from The Industry on Youth Vaping
MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO, CANADA, February 20, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Canadian Vaping Association acknowledges the gravity of the issue and understands that we have a role to play in further preventing youth access to these products. We are working with our members to develop recommendations and will formally submit these to Health Canada.
Amid the flurry of efforts to combat youth vaping, however, it’s important that regulators and the public don’t lose sight of the potential benefits vaping holds for adult smokers. We urge decision-makers to carefully and critically consider any data and respond with appropriate measures that do not deter adult smokers from seeking less harmful ways to consume nicotine or the hundreds of thousands of Canadian vapers who currently remain smoke free because they chose this less harmful alternative.
In May 2018 the federal government legalized vapour products as consumer products under the Tobacco and Vape Products Act (TVPA). This move recognized a growing body of evidence showing vaping to be less harmful than smoking. Vape products are devices that heat liquid into a vapour, which then turns into aerosol. This vapour is often flavoured and can but does not always contain nicotine. According to the University of Victoria’s Center for Addictions Research, the removal of combustion from vaping products causes them to produce “only a fraction of the toxins found in tobacco cigarettes and generally in substantially lower levels.”
While vaping products can contain nicotine, as far back as 2007, the U.K. Royal College of Physicians argued that it is primarily the toxins and carcinogens in tobacco smoke – not the nicotine – that cause “smoking-related diseases.” Because vaping does away with combustion, it offers adult smokers an ability to satisfy their nicotine cravings, while reducing the harms associated with smoking. In addition, recent data supports a link between vaping and smoking cessation – Health Canada highlighted this on its TVPA website. As reported by the UK’s group Action on Smoking and Health: “the proportion of vapers who smoke tobacco has fallen and the proportion who are ex-smokers has risen, while regular e-cigarette use among people who have never smoked has remained negligible at 0.3%” . The potential public health implications that can be read from these statistics are huge.
To build awareness of these less harmful alternatives and to reach their potential in terms of smoking cessation, it’s essential to allow for the promotion of vaping products more openly than tobacco. Allowing for the sharing of information on vape products does not mean that promotion goes “unrestricted” and that marketers can do as they please to make vaping look cool, as certain health groups suggest. In Canada many forms of promotion of vape products are already prohibited by federal law. For example, federal legislation bans any “advertising which is attractive to young people”. Critics who claim that manufacturers and store owners have free reign to influence and persuade youth maybe looking to the grave mistakes made in the US and are simply not aware of the heavy restrictions already placed on vaping advertising in Canada. Adult smokers have the right to know about alternatives to tobacco use and that the open sharing of information to signal availability and harm reduction potential is key to that.
About the Canadian Vaping Association:
The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) is a registered national, not-for-profit organization, representing manufacturers and vendors of vaping products and advocates in Canada. The primary goal of CVA is to ensure that government regulation is reasonable and practical, through the strategy of professional proactive communication, advocacy and education supplied bilingually to health officers, media, elected officials and the general public.
For media inquiries contact:
info@thecva.org
Amid the flurry of efforts to combat youth vaping, however, it’s important that regulators and the public don’t lose sight of the potential benefits vaping holds for adult smokers. We urge decision-makers to carefully and critically consider any data and respond with appropriate measures that do not deter adult smokers from seeking less harmful ways to consume nicotine or the hundreds of thousands of Canadian vapers who currently remain smoke free because they chose this less harmful alternative.
In May 2018 the federal government legalized vapour products as consumer products under the Tobacco and Vape Products Act (TVPA). This move recognized a growing body of evidence showing vaping to be less harmful than smoking. Vape products are devices that heat liquid into a vapour, which then turns into aerosol. This vapour is often flavoured and can but does not always contain nicotine. According to the University of Victoria’s Center for Addictions Research, the removal of combustion from vaping products causes them to produce “only a fraction of the toxins found in tobacco cigarettes and generally in substantially lower levels.”
While vaping products can contain nicotine, as far back as 2007, the U.K. Royal College of Physicians argued that it is primarily the toxins and carcinogens in tobacco smoke – not the nicotine – that cause “smoking-related diseases.” Because vaping does away with combustion, it offers adult smokers an ability to satisfy their nicotine cravings, while reducing the harms associated with smoking. In addition, recent data supports a link between vaping and smoking cessation – Health Canada highlighted this on its TVPA website. As reported by the UK’s group Action on Smoking and Health: “the proportion of vapers who smoke tobacco has fallen and the proportion who are ex-smokers has risen, while regular e-cigarette use among people who have never smoked has remained negligible at 0.3%” . The potential public health implications that can be read from these statistics are huge.
To build awareness of these less harmful alternatives and to reach their potential in terms of smoking cessation, it’s essential to allow for the promotion of vaping products more openly than tobacco. Allowing for the sharing of information on vape products does not mean that promotion goes “unrestricted” and that marketers can do as they please to make vaping look cool, as certain health groups suggest. In Canada many forms of promotion of vape products are already prohibited by federal law. For example, federal legislation bans any “advertising which is attractive to young people”. Critics who claim that manufacturers and store owners have free reign to influence and persuade youth maybe looking to the grave mistakes made in the US and are simply not aware of the heavy restrictions already placed on vaping advertising in Canada. Adult smokers have the right to know about alternatives to tobacco use and that the open sharing of information to signal availability and harm reduction potential is key to that.
About the Canadian Vaping Association:
The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) is a registered national, not-for-profit organization, representing manufacturers and vendors of vaping products and advocates in Canada. The primary goal of CVA is to ensure that government regulation is reasonable and practical, through the strategy of professional proactive communication, advocacy and education supplied bilingually to health officers, media, elected officials and the general public.
For media inquiries contact:
info@thecva.org
Canadian Vaping Association
+1 8008267146
Daniela Cavatassi
email us here
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