BEAMSVILLE, Ontario, Sept. 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) has been steadfast in its advocacy for vaping because of the tremendous harm reduction potential for smokers. Vaping has been found to be 95% less harmful than combustible tobacco. Nicotine is not the source of the harm caused by smoking. It is the combustion process of cigarettes that causes morbidity and mortality. The combination of far fewer chemicals and the lack of combustion in vaping significantly reduces health risks, resulting in considerable reductions in health care costs.
As vaping adoption increases, direct and indirect costs to health care decrease over time. The study, “Potential Country-level Health and Cost Impacts of Legalizing Domestic Sale of Vaporized Nicotine Products,” has found that access to vapour products extends life expectancy and greatly reduces the cost of public health care.
“This modeling suggested that a fairly permissive regulatory environment around vaporized nicotine products achieves net health gain and cost savings,” concluded the study. The study found that if vapour products are accessible within New Zealand, 19 healthy days would be added to each life. Additionally, it is estimated that the New Zealand health system would save NZ$3.4 billion because of fewer people developing tobacco-related diseases as vapour products are less harmful than smoking.
There are an estimated 500,000 smokers in New Zealand with a potential NZ$3.4 billion or $720 per citizen in savings. From a Canadian perspective, widespread adoption of vaping over time could save Canada $12.3 billion annually - the current direct and economic cost of smoking. In addition to health care costs, tobacco use results in many indirect costs such as second-hand smoke exposure, fire damage, lost production, disability, policing, and research grants.
“Vaping presents an opportunity to greatly reduce smoking rates and extend the life expectancy of smokers. However, Canada’s proposed flavour ban stands to push current vapers back to smoking and slow vaping adoption by smokers. The focus of public health policy should be to secure public health gains. Restricting flavours will undoubtably cause significant harm to adult smokers and their families,” said Darryl Tempest, Executive Director of the CVA.
Contact Info:
Darryl Tempest
Executive Director
647-274-1867
dtempest@thecva.org
