Study finds vaping has not increased total nicotine use in youth


Hamilton, ON, Aug. 26, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) has always condemned the use of vapour products by youth and non-smokers and has repeatedly advocated for regulations to limit youth use. However, we are concerned that anti-vaping groups and some government officials continue to scapegoat youth for their misguided moral crusade against vaping. While these groups attack the greatest harm reduction tool globally, smokers around the world continue to die due to the misinformation these groups perpetuate.

While vape advocates have repeatedly refuted inflated statistics on youth vaping, anti-vapers continue to disregard the facts. The study, “Electronic cigarettes, nicotine use trends and use initiation ages among US adolescents from 1999 to 2018,” further proves that the emergence of the vaping industry has not caused significant harm to youth. In fact, the study has found that vaping may have actually prevented harm to youth by transitioning nicotine use to a less harmful delivery system.

The study concluded, “Electronic cigarettes may have offset conventional smoking among US adolescents between 2010 and 2018 by maintaining the total nicotine use prevalence and diverting them from more harmful conventional smoking. Additionally, electronic cigarette users appear to initiate at older ages relative to conventional smokers, which is associated with lower risk.”

“I want to be clear - our organization believes that youth absolutely should not vape and we have repeatedly recommended a series of measures to legislators to prevent youth uptake. The research has made it increasingly clear that there is not a youth epidemic; this false notion is simply the result of a vast amount of misinformation such as that spread as a result of the Hammond study, which recently required redaction. It is essential that the regulations remain balanced to continue to minimize youth uptake while still ensuring access for the millions of adult smokers. Vapour products are nearly twice as effective as any other nicotine replacement product and have been proven through replicable peer-reviewed medical studies to be at least 95% less harmful than smoking. To negate a life saving product on the grounds of inaccurate studies surrounding youth use is completely immoral,” said Darryl Tempest, Executive Director of the CVA.

Generally, Canada has implemented sensible regulation around vaping that balances the need to protect youth with the needs of adult smokers, yet Nova Scotia has failed its population of adult smokers with misguided policies and P.E.I. is about to make the same mistake. The CVA urges these governments to review the research and reverse policies that inflict harm on the province’s adult smokers. Studies have shown youth try vaping primarily due to curiosity, anxiety and peer pressure. The solution to youth vaping is not restricting access to adults looking to improve their health, but in a multi-faceted approach which eliminates non-age restricted access points, increases education and bans product promotion outside of adult-only spaces.  Through this approach we can protect our youth while supporting the most successful harm reduction product available which has the potential to save millions of lives.

 

Contact Data