Beamsville, ON, Nov. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) would like to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden. As Biden prepares to take on the responsibilities and challenges ahead, the CVA watches with great interest, given his proclamation to Americans and the world that health and addiction policy decisions will be science based under his administration. This commitment to fact-based policy development offers some encouragement that positive vaping policy changes in the United States may be on the horizon. While we understand that the new administration is rightfully focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic, we truly hope that they do not overlook the 480,000 Americans that will die within the first year of their mandate from smoking related diseases.

 In 2016, the Royal College of Physicians concluded that, “the hazard to health arising from long-term vapour inhalation from the e-cigarettes available today is unlikely to exceed 5% of the harm from smoking tobacco.” Since these findings, annual independent studies have been conducted by Public Health England and to date all have shown the same remarkable results – vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking.

 Due to the vast amount of misinformation surrounding vaping in the United States, poor public perception and misguided legislation have created the perfect storm, causing many vapers to return to combustible tobacco and discouraging smokers from transitioning to much less harmful nicotine vapour products. England has been a world leader in vaping research and an early adopter of vaping as a tool to assist their citizens in quit smoking. Despite their many years of progress, the continual anti-vaping campaigns dominating American media created such an impact in the UK that Public Health England felt it necessary to release a series of statements reassuring the public of the health benefits of transitioning to vaping from combustible tobacco and correcting the vast amount of misinformation surrounding vapour products. Public Health England’s release stated, “E-cigarettes are not completely risk free but, when compared to smoking, evidence shows they carry just a fraction of the harm. The problem is people increasingly think they are at least as harmful, and this may be keeping millions of smokers from quitting. Local stop smoking services should look to support e-cigarette users in their journey to quitting completely.” As a global leader, it is crucial that the United States set a positive example surrounding vaping as the most effective harm reduction tool, as the positions taken by the US administration have deep impacts not only domestically but on a global scale.

 Biden has said in previous statements that, if elected, he would halt the sale of vaping products until more research is available. However, he has also said he “will follow the science” on vaping. In the past year alone, an overwhelming amount of credible and compelling science has emerged demonstrating vaping’s profound harm reduction potential and effectiveness. An international review produced by Cochrane, a global network of independent researchers, examined 50 of the top studies on vaping’s efficacy. The review found that smokers who used vaping to quit were most likely to be successful, concluding that vaping is 70% more effective than any other nicotine replacement therapy. With the reaffirmation of vaping’s effectiveness, we implore President-elect Biden, who ran on a platform of science driven policy, to ensure vaping policy is founded on research and not rhetoric.

 In her acceptance speech, Vice President-elect Harris described Biden as a “healer.” This encompasses what the vape industry values most - helping millions of smokers finally quit smoking so that they may begin to heal. Political leadership, medical professionals and vapour industry experts must all work together to ensure a responsible market based on the conclusive science that vaping is the most successful harm reduction platform for smokers. Only through a collaborative effort can we save the lives of millions of smokers and land on the right side of history.

 The CVA extends our sincere wishes for the success of the administration and Presidency.