For the better part of the last decade, the Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) has advocated for nicotine vape products as a tool to quit smoking. However, opponents of vaping have created confusion amongst smokers and the public through dishonest claims that vaping is ineffective for quitting smoking.
“The claim that e-cigs can't help people quit smoking is now so plainly false that anybody making it not only discredits themselves, but worse still, undermines public confidence in science,” said Mark Dockrell from Public Health England.
Vaping is currently the most widely used smoking intervention as demonstrated through clinical trials and systematic reviews. An international review, produced by Cochrane, a global network of independent researchers, has reviewed 50 of the top studies on vaping’s efficacy. The review found that nicotine-containing e-cigarettes are superior to Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT), non-nicotine-containing e-cigarettes and behavioural interventions in helping people quit cigarettes.
Another study, published in the American Medical Association Journal, found that “those who were using e-cigarettes daily at the end of the study were 8-fold more likely to quit cigarettes altogether. They were also almost 10-fold more likely to stop smoking cigarettes every day.”
Additionally, Public Health England’s (PHE) seventh independent report on vaping in England, carried out by researchers at King’s College London, found that using a vaping product as part of a quit attempt in local stop smoking services had some of the highest quit success rates – between 59.7% and 74% in 2019 and 2020.
Although science continues to prove vaping to be an effective harm reduction tool, vaping regulation has become increasingly restrictive and even prohibitive in some regions.
“It is illogical and reckless to promote policies that would restrict or even ban the sale of vaping products in places where cigarettes are available. There is really no precedent in public health where a much safer medicine or medical device or procedure is introduced and then is heavily restricted or prohibited, while the deadly medicine/device/procedure is allowed to continue. This is exactly what is happening with e-cigarettes/vaping and all safer nicotine delivery systems,” said Dr. Mark Tyndall.
“Smoking continues to be the leading cause of preventable death and illness in Canada. Vaping presents a tool to reduce smoking rates faster than previously thought possible. For the greatest potential benefit to public health, smokers need clear messaging that vaping is an option to reduce the harm caused by combustible tobacco,” said Darryl Tempest, Government Relations Counsel to the CVA Board.
About the CVA: The Canadian Vaping Association is a registered national, not-for-profit organization, established as the voice for the Canadian vaping industry. Founded in 2014, the CVA represents over 200 retail and online vaping businesses in Canada. CVA’s membership does not including tobacco companies or affiliates.
Source:globenewswire
