In light of numerous recent media alarming media headlines questioning the safety of vaping products, the Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) refers to a study indicating the positive impact of e-cigarette use on public health.
In recent years and more so in recent months, the vaping industry has been incessantly scrutinized and even worse, compared to the deadly tobacco industry. Following the EVALI cases and the COVID-19 outbreak, the products’ safety has been questioned and inaccurately deemed unproven on multiple occasions.
To this effect, the CVA is referring to a past study led by Dr. David Levy at Georgetown University Medical Centre in the US. Titled, “Potential deaths averted in USA by replacing cigarettes with e-cigarettes,” the study found that 6.6 million premature deaths in the United States could be avoided by smokers switching to vaping.
Even in the worst case scenario, lives would be saved via vaping
The study took in consideration two possible scenarios, an Optimistic Scenario, based on current vaping patterns with smoking rates falling to 5% over a 10 year period, and a Pessimistic Scenario with smoking rates at 10%.
The compiled data indicated that even under the worst case possible scenario, switching from smoking to vaping yields substantial life year gains.
“Compared with the Status Quo, replacement of cigarette by e-cigarette use over a 10-year period yields 6.6 million fewer premature deaths with 86.7 million fewer life years lost in the Optimistic Scenario. Under the Pessimistic Scenario, 1.6 million premature deaths are averted with 20.8 million fewer life years lost. The largest gains are among younger cohorts, with a 0.5 gain in average life expectancy projected for the age 15 years cohort in 2016,” read the study Abstract.
Such scientific data should be informing policy
Executive Director of the CVA, Darryl Tempest, pointed out that this data is important to consider when considering e-cig regulations. “This study is a great reminder that when the vape industry describes it’s product as life saving it is not being hyperbolic. There are real life consequences to poor regulation. When a province bans flavours or implements excessive taxation based on faulty studies or misrepresented data, public health suffers great harm.”
