Canadian Vaping Association Rebuts Cancer Society on Harm Reduction

On May 21, according to Canadian media reports, the Canadian Vaping Association recently rebutted comments made by Rob Cunningham, a spokesperson for the Canadian Cancer Society, during an interview regarding tobacco and vaping.

 

Rob Cunningham, the spokesperson for the Canadian Cancer Society, recently participated in an interview on Rick Howe's radio show discussing tobacco and vaping. The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) was pleased to find that many of the Cancer Society's statements align with CVA's principles, but they were disappointed that the Society still does not recognize vaping as a harm reduction tool.

 

Cunningham stated that he believes the youth vaping rate in Canada is much higher than in the UK, attributing this directly to the entry of vaping brands owned by Big Tobacco and their aggressive advertising in the Canadian market. Rob explained that products like Juul and Vype have nicotine concentrations ranging from 57-59 mg per milliliter, making them both addictive and appealing to young people. Before these products entered the market, the EU had already limited nicotine concentrations to 20 mg per milliliter. The result of this regulation is that the emergence of these brands had little impact on youth vaping rates across the EU.

 

CVA has repeatedly expressed concerns about the high nicotine content of products sold by Big Tobacco's vaping brands and the ban on advertising indigenous brands. However, Mr. Cunningham's call for stricter advertising regulations in Canada is misguided. Canada has already banned advertising vaping products outside of age-restricted spaces. Therefore, further regulations in this area are neither necessary nor wise. Instead, Canada needs to continuously strengthen existing regulations. The aggressive advertising campaigns by Big Tobacco exist because their products were already on the market before these regulations were implemented.

 

The Canadian Cancer Society has repeatedly stated that they believe flavored vaping products should only be sold in age-restricted specialty vape shops, which CVA strongly agrees with. However, CVA has repeatedly indicated that research data from the CDC and Public Health England shows that flavor is not the reason for youth uptake of vaping. CVA believes that not only flavored products but all nicotine vaping products should be sold in age-restricted environments where staff are capable of providing necessary education.

 

CVA Executive Director Darryl Tempest stated that vaping products are adult products intended for former smokers. The Canadian Cancer Society's advocacy for limiting the sale of these products to age-restricted specialty stores is absolutely correct. However, they mistakenly believe that flavor is the driving force behind youth uptake. Research from the American Cancer Society has proven that removing flavors does not impact youth smoking rates. This clearly indicates that to effectively reduce youth smoking through legislation, issues of nicotine concentration and points of contact must be addressed.

 

Although CVA agrees with many of the Canadian Cancer Society's views on vaping regulations, our respected health organization acknowledges that vaping is a harmful alternative to smoking. Rob Cunningham has yet to clarify the benefits of smokers switching to vaping. For public health, all health organizations (including the Canadian Cancer Society) should adopt all available tools to reduce harm. Research shows that vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking, and flavor is not the motivation for youth vaping.