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Cigarettes
Cigarettes
The most deadly form of nicotineVAEP Shareables are images utilizing graphics, colour and text to quickly teach people about vaping. Each Shareable provides the reference on the bottom.
Everyone knows smoking is very bad for health
Smoking is the most preventable cause of disease and death in North America. The harm from tobacco is overwhelmingly due to its combustion. When a cigarette is burned, the smoke contains over 7,000 chemicals. Hundreds of these chemicals cause diseases and around 70 cause cancer.
The reality
Up to 600 chemicals are added to cigarettes
Over decades, scientists were paid millions of dollars to experiment with adding chemicals to tobacco to create the modern cigarette. Many of the chemicals in cigarettes enhance the effects and delivery of nicotine. Some chemicals are addictive in themselves.
The fear-based narrative claims there is a vaping epidemic
An epidemic is a widespread disease that affects many people. Globally, smoking kills 17,000 people every single day and over 200 million people suffer with chronic smoking-related diseases! These diseases and deaths are 100% preventable. A safer source of nicotine lets smokers eliminate the disease causing chemicals found in cigarette smoke.
Once addicted, smokers have very poor quit rates
Before vaping, about half of smokers tried to quit every year but annually only 2.5% of smokers quit long term. Despite the financial cost, health consequences and social shaming, most smokers are hopelessly addicted and continue to harm their health.
The reality
Up to 600 chemicals are added to cigarettes
Over decades, scientists were paid millions of dollars to experiment with adding chemicals to tobacco to create the modern cigarette. Many of the chemicals in cigarettes enhance the effects and delivery of nicotine. Some chemicals are addictive in themselves.
The fear-based narrative claims there is a vaping epidemic
An epidemic is a widespread disease that affects many people. Globally, smoking kills 17,000 people every single day and over 200 million people suffer with chronic smoking-related diseases! These diseases and deaths are 100% preventable.
Once addicted, smokers have very poor quit rates
Before vaping, about half of smokers tried to quit every year but annually only 2.5% of smokers quit long term. Despite the financial cost, health consequences and social shaming, most smokers are hopelessly addicted and continue to harm their health.
Smoking kills
The suffering effects more than the smoker
When breadwinners of a family become disabled, the medical costs and the loss of income ensure their children can’t afford post secondary education.
Long before they die, smokers suffer with disease
The toxins in cigarette smoke cause intermittent illnesses and slowly deteriorates a smoker’s health to eventually cause chronic disease.
Smoking destroys quality of life
Retirement with chronic disease can mean dragging around an oxygen tank, loss of ability to golf and the inability to play with grandchildren.
Treating chronic disease is expensive and time consuming
They become reliant on pharmaceutical drugs, healthcare and medical devices to continue functioning.
Smoking is everyone’s problem
Social cost of smoking
Reducing the cost of smoking to the taxpayer is everyone’s best interests. Public costs include disability, health care, fires and loss of productivity.
A safer source of nicotine lets smokers eliminate the disease causing chemicals found in cigarette smoke, rendering these costs obsolete.
Youth and smoking
Smokers start in their teens
The tobacco industry relies on youth experimentation for their next generation of smokers. The pharmaceutical industry relies on smoking for future customers.
It’s a numbers game
Youth become smokers because they inhale smoke from chemically laden cigarettes. Cigarette smoke is so addictive that after just 2 cigarettes, over 10% of youth have trouble saying ‘no’ to the next one. After 100 cigarettes (4-5 packs), 94% have trouble saying ‘no’.
Help the parents, help the children
One of the most influential relationships a child has is with their parents. Parents’ lifestyle choices influence what their teenager will experiment with. Parents who smoke are modelling a self-harming behaviour. Parents that quit smoking are modelling a self-caring behaviour.
For more information on youth and vaping, please visit our VAEP Shareables gallery and choose the “Youth” category.
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Gov’t and MSA payments
State governments & the MSA
On November 23, 1998, all but four state governments entered into the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) with the 4 big tobacco giants.
These tobacco companies committed to pay out around $200 billion over twenty years to the state governments. Payment amounts are based on annual cigarette sales.
What would motivate authority to villiainize harm reduction?
Money.
Vaping nicotine is proven to help smokers off of cigarettes and keep them off.
If smoking rates drop because of vaping then the states get less money from the MSA. Therefore, successful uptake of vaping threatens to reduce the amount of the MSA payments.
Ignoring the purpose of MSA
In the first section of the MSA, this agreement was made “to avoid the further expense, delay , inconvenience, burden and uncertainty of continued litigation” by the state against the tobacco industry for expenses occurred to Medicaid as a result of smoking.
Unfortunately, the MSA did not make clear provisions for how the MSA money is to be spent and very little of it is being spent on the intended purpose.
MSA protects the 4 tobacco companies
Since the 4 tobacco giants entered an agreement to pay the state though the MSA, other tobacco companies are to be penalized by the state for doing business because the state doesn’t get a cut of their sales. So, since vaping helps smokers get off of cigarettes (which would lower MSA payments) the FDA catigorized vaping as tobacco and the states can ‘dilligently enforce’ laws against them.
It’s important to note that vaping is no more tobacco than vitamin C is an orange.
Spending money before they had it
Some of the state governments issued bonds based on the projections for future MSA payments. Unfortunately, they underestimated the rate at which smokers would stop smoking which means the payments were lower than they banked on. The actual payments were too insufficient to pay the bonds when due.
S&P bond ratings sound alarm
The S&P Global Ratings rates publically trading securities such as bonds. Ratings range from AAA to D which indicates the reliablility of the security to pay out when due. They assessed the immerging vaping industry as reducing the amount of smokers and therefore the ability of what is backing the bonds (MSA payments) to cover the pay out. This means the governments that issued the bonds have to find money elsewhere to pay the bonds out when due.
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What went wrong in the USA
What went wrong in the USA
Governments, health authorities, medical professionals, anti-smoking groups and health-related nonprofits utilized mainstream media to repeatedly claim that vaping was injuring people without specifying that the injuries were caused from illegal THC cartridges.
Over and over again, they included vaping nicotine in their conversations, statements and announcements. A false narrative that blamed vaping nicotine for the lung injuries spread throughout the public and the health community.
CDC contradicts their evidence
As a national health authority, the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a responsibility to report on the facts. Their publications influence medical policies in the USA and all over the world. During the lung injury outbreak, despite the growing evidence that vaping street-level drugs were the cause, the CDC continued to allude that vaping nicotine was to blame.
FDA vs CDC accuracy
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the CDC advised the public about the facts on the lung injuries. Both released reports on Sept. 6, 2019. It is very clear, when reading the titles of the two reports that the CDC chose a fear-based narrative about vaping nicotine and omitted the cause of EVALI. It’s important to note that the word “e-cigarettes” means vaping nicotine.
Health-related regulatory bodies
During the outbreak, health-related regulatory bodies, such as the American Medical Association (AMA), joined the CDC in avoiding identifying the causality of the outbreak. They continued to scare the public about vaping nicoine with the fear-based narratives they have been promoting for years. As a result, health professionals continue to be misinformed about tobacco harm reduction.
State officials & harm reduction
Utilizing the outbreak, Gov. Baker discouraged the smokers in Massachusetts from switching to vaping. He banned most flavours which are essential to helping smokers detox and withdrawal from cigarettes by making vaping appealing. He added a tax which makes vaping more expensive for the poor which have the highest smoking rates.
Fake news
The United Kingdom (UK) promotes vaping for smokers. They are different than most of the world because they independently reviewed the science on vaping before the global narrative that Canada has adopted was dictated. The deceptions about EVALI were so pervasive that even their citizens became misinformed!
The lies are working
The misinformation campaign through authority and media has convinced the public that vaping nicotine is the source of EVALI. Within 15 months, an increase of 13% of the people wrongly believe that vaping is MORE harmful than smoking, The public now demands eliquid flavour bans and other restrictions on tobacco harm reduction (vaping).
For over 20 years, RealClearPolicy has been reviewing US domestic policy and analyzes “the most pivotal information on the day’s need-to-know issues”. They reviewed how the CDC handled EVALI in their article titled, Heads Should Roll at CDC after Botched Vaping Investigation.
Filter is a nonprofit, their mission is to …”advocate through journalism for rational and compassionate approaches to drug use, drug policy and human rights”. Their critique of how CDC handled EVALI is titled, Vapes and Lung Disease: The CDC’s Lesson in How Not to Handle an Illness Outbreak.
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Expert warnings
Expert warnings from the UK
Since the 2016 publication of ‘Nicotine Without Smoke‘, UK health authorities have been promoting vaping as a smoking cessation aid for their citizens.
The UK health community understood that the cause of the 2019 vaping-related lung injuries (EVALI) was not from vaping nicotine. Yet, North American experts were saying it was. Scientists, health authorities and doctors in the UK issued statements and reports to help people learn the truth.
“Complete madness”
Dr. Britton calls out the deception
When asked about the USA authority’s reaction to EVALI (which was to blame vaping nicotine), Dr. Britton said that their reaction was “complete madness.”
Smoking experts in the UK spoke out against the misinformation spread about EVALI and continue to encourage smokers to choose harm reduction.
Quotes from experts
Prof. Newton reassures smokers
We can argue that authorities in Canada and the USA have grossly mismanaged the response to EVALI. They continue to discourage smokers from harm reduction and therefore encouraging continued smoking, smoking-related diseases, disability, and premature death.
Dr. Leonard observes misinformation
Smoking kills over 40,000 Canadians and over 480,000 Americans every single year! How many North Americans have been diagnosed with a chronic smoking-related disease because they didn’t know they had an effective and safe harm reduction option?
Dr. Shahab addresses false belief
Smoking is the primary cause of preventable disease & death in North America. Yet, health authorities and nonprofits in Canada and the USA, wrongly blame vaping nicotine as the cause of the lung injuries and as a result demand stricter restrictions on tobacco harm reduction.
Dr. Aberegg sums it up
It’s important to note that dispite being surrounded by deceptive health authorities, Utah health authorities and community remained objective with the evidence. Dr. Aberegg identifies the obvious reason why EVALI patients would omit illegal drug use when self-reporting: people are simply afraid to say they used illegal drugs.
Repeated fear provoking narrative
The pervasive message in North America is that we have to ban vaping because their is a ‘youth vaping epidemic’.
In Great Britain, vaping is recognized as a significant harm reduction strategy and is promoted by their public health. Yet, less than 2% of 11-18 year olds vape more than once a week.
WHERE is the youth vaping epidemic in Great Britain?
Teens mess with stuff they shouldn’t
Youth experiment with adult activities, this is why 52% vaped “to give it a try”. Cigarette smoke is far more addictive than nicotine vapour and far more harmful. Since smoking tastes gross, perhaps the flavours in eliquid are preventing youth from becoming smokers.
CALL TO ACTION
Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs wrote a referenced paper about EVALI. It is the perfect document to enlighten health professionals about how they have been deceived about EVALI and vaping.
Canada gov’t THC cartridges
Canadian government & THC cartridges
The Canadian federal government controls the sale of cannabis products and makes revenue through a cannabis federal excise duty.
On October 19, 2019, during the EVALI outbreak, THC cartridges were approved for sale in Canada. Remember, the lung injuries were caused from illegal THC cartridges.
Health Canada acknowledges the cause
In December 2019, Health Canada was questioned by CBC News about the cause of EVALI because the Canadian government approved the sale of THC cartridges during the EVALI outbreak. Health Canada clearly communicates that they understood EVALI was being caused by illegal THC cartridges and not from vaping nicotine.
Myths or facts
In late February 2020, the CDC closes the case on EVALI because they had identified the source, took action and the injuries stopped occuring.
However, over a year later the Health Canada, Vaping-Associated Lung Illness, page states: “The cause or causes of cases in Canada is still under investigation.”
Protecting THC cartridges revenue
March 2021 Health Canada website: “In Canada, most cases of vaping associated lung illness do not appear to have been associated with the use of THC-containing products.”
When reading this statement, consider that Health Canada relied on patient self-reporting during a time when THC carts were all black-market. They did not conduct biopsies, product analysis nor toxicology screening.
Hiding the truth
As of March 2021, the Government of Canada’s webpage on EVALI mentions nicotine 5 times but only mentions vitamin E acetate just once.
This is the source of information that all provincial health authorities and all Canadian health professionals would consider to be the most current, unbiased and accurate.
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What went wrong in Canada
What went wrong in Canada
Governments, health authorities, medical professionals, anti-smoking groups and health-related nonprofits utilized mainstream media to repeatedly warn the public that vaping was injuring people without specifying that the injuries were caused from illegal THC cartridges.
Over and over again, they included vaping nicotine in their conversations, statements and announcements. A false narrative that blamed vaping nicotine for the lung injuries spread throughout the public and the health community.
First case of EVALI in Canada
Dr. Chris Mackie, the medical officer for the Middlesex-London Health Unit in Ontario, declared the first of the 19 EVALI cases in Canada. His diagnosis was lipoid pneumonia caused by vaping nicotine. Countless headlines, articles, TV news programs and experts created fear about vaping nicotine.
Enduring false causation
For weeks, Dr. Mackie continued to blame vaping nicotine for the lung injury during interviews with media. As a result of this deception, anti-smoking agencies, health authorities and health-related nonprofits across Canada demanded banning flavours in eliquid and make nicotine vaping less attractive to smokers.
The science is clear
Several years earlier, a 2016 study “Respiratory infections and pneumonia: potential benefits of switching from smoking to vaping” concluded vaping nicotine cannot cause lipoid pneumonia. Water-based vapor cannot cause an oil-based lung injury.
First case of EVALI in Canada
Dr. Chris Mackie, the medical officer for the Middlesex-London Health Unit in Ontario declared the first of 19 cases in Canada. His diagnosis was lipoid pneumonia. Countless headlines, articles, TV news programs and experts created fear about vaping nicotine.
The science is clear
Several years earlier, a 2016 study “Respiratory infections and pneumonia: potential benefits of switching from smoking to vaping” concluded vaping nicotine cannot cause lipoid pneumonia. Water-based vapor cannot cause an oil-based lung injury.
Enduring false causation
For weeks, Dr. Mackie continued to blame vaping nicotine for the lung injury during interviews with media. As a result of this deception, anti-smoking agencies, health authorities and health-related nonprofits across Canada demanded banning flavours in eliquid and make nicotine vaping less attractive to smokers.
Anti-harm reduction advocates
Daily, health experts were featured on mainstream media spreading fear about vaping nicotine. Experts repeatedly referred to vaping as causing the injuries without specifying that it was illegal THC cartridges that was hurting people. They repeatedly include vaping nicotine in their discussions!
Recommends inhaling nicotine
Dr. Tereza Martinu, respirologist, was a guest on media. She admitted that vitamin E acetate was found in all the American EVALI lung biopsies & is used in THC concentrates. However, she suggests that inhaling nicotine through vaping as the cause of the lung injuries. Then she encourages smokers to use nicotine inhalers.
Trying hard to blame harm reduction
Question: since vaping has been around for 10 years, why the sudden outbreak of EVALI? Dr. Martinu’s answer was there was such an increase in vaping that there are now enough cases to see it. She failed to give the percent of increase or the time frame because there wasn’t a significant increase in vaping to warrant the outbreak.
Deceptive authority
With endless resources and funding, the government is fully capable of reviewing the evidence on vaping. Yet, they are still deceiving the public by blaming vaping nicotine specifically for EVALI. Why are Canadian health authorities so misinformed about vaping? They must be aware of the billions of dollars it costs to treat smoking-related diseases.
Fake news
The United Kingdom (UK) promotes vaping for smokers. They are different than most of the world because they independently reviewed the science on vaping before the global narrative that Canada has adopted was dictated. The deceptions about EVALI were so pervasive that even their citizens became misinformed!
The lies are working
The misinformation campaign through authority and media has convinced the public that vaping nicotine is the source of EVALI. Within 15 months, an increase of 13% of the people wrongly believe that vaping is MORE harmful than smoking, The public now demands eliquid flavour bans and other restrictions on tobacco harm reduction (vaping).
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What happened
What happened
Suddenly, there were hundreds of cases of severe lung injuries in areas around the USA. All the patients had vaped.
Yet, millions of smokers had been vaping nicotine for more than a decade without any cases of severe lung injuries.
Vaping history of 15 years with no lung injuries
In August of 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced they were investigating an outbreak of lung injuries.
Over 2800 cases were identified, causing 68 deaths in the USA; in Canada there were 19 cases and no deaths.
76% of the patients were under 35 and 66% were male.
The investigation and resolution
Injuries were isolated to North America
Vaping nicotine is a harm reduction strategy used by millions of smokers all over the world. Since the injuries only occurred in North America, it was clear the injuries were being caused by something other than standard nicotine eliquid.
Patients admitted illegal drug use
Almost 100% of the injured patients reported using illegal THC cartridges. Despite the evidence, the injury was named EVALI (E-cigarette or Vaping product use-Associated Lung Injury) implying the cause was vaping nicotine.
Lung biopsies found vitamin E acetate
To identify the substance causing the injuries, lung samples from the patients were analyzed. The fat-based substance, vitamin E acetate, was identified as causing the injuries. This substance can not be dissolved in water-based nicotine eliquid; they would separate in the container.
Vaping products used were analyzed
The patients surrendered the products they were vaping to help identify the cause of the injuries. Nicotine eliquids contained no unexpected or harmful chemicals but 9 out of 10 illegal THC carts contained vitamin E acetate which is used as a cutting agent.
EVALI patients use of vaping products vs vapers without injuries
Vaping habits of 66 vapers that suffered with the lung injury were compared to the vaping habits of 519 vapers that didn’t have the lung injuries. The injured vapers clearly showed a significant increase in THC vaping, illegal THC use and purchased the illegal brand that was associated with the lung injuries. This study further confirmed the safety of commercial nicotine eliquid.
Public warnings from the FDA
The Food and Drug Administration issued warnings that were specific to the injuries. To best ensure the public can make informed decisions about safety, the more specific information about the dangers, the better. The FDA issued warnings that were based in the evidence discovered.
Lung injuries declined rapidly
Word spread on the street that illegal THC cartridges were making people sick. Law enforcement busted several illegal THC cartridge makers and distributors. A legal thinning agent, ‘Honey Cut’ was removed from the market. The injuries declined.
Law enforcement seizures
Confiscated illegal THC cartridges from 2018 and 2019 found that the vitamin E acetate was only detected in the 2019 cartridges and not the 2018 cartridges. This shows that the causative agent was recently introduced into illegal THC cartridges.
More on what happened
Utah Department of Health warnings
The media featured health experts and authority figures that blamed vaping nicotine for what was causing EVALI. Utah Department of Health were one of the few health authorities that told the public the truth.
Cannabis was/is still illegal
Because illegal drug use has legal consequences, patients living in areas where a drug consumed is illegal, sometimes lie about what they have taken because they are afraid of being charged. Even though, initially, THC cartridges were illegal in Canada, authorities didn’t verify the patients’ self-reporting by testing lung samples, performing toxicology screening nor analyzing the patients’ vaping products used.
Buy products from legitimate sources
Since May, 2018, eliquid with or without nicotine has been regulated by the Canadian federal government. Prior to 2018, (and currently in the USA), the vaping industry self-regulated product manufacturing safety. No serious lung injuries from vaping commercial nicotine eliquid have been reported. Vaping nicotine is less than 5% the risk of smoking and therefore, a significant harm reduction strategy for smokers.
Wording matters
When we say “smoking” we mean smoking cigarettes. When people smoke something else, we specify such as smoking a pipe or smoking a joint. When we say “vaping” we mean vaping nicotine. When people vape something else, we specify such as vaping nicotine-free eliquid or vaping THC carts (cartridges).
Warnings were not specific enough
North American health authorities such as the CDC recommended people stop all vaping and did not specify the injuries were caused from THC cartridges. Cannabis users were left at risk because “vaping” commonly means vaping nictoine NOT vaping THC carts.
Utah activated vape shops
With a disease outbreak, it’s important to notify the public, especially the population at risk. Vape shops across Utah were utilized to get the word out about the cause of EVALI & ensured their customers could make informed decisions about harm reduction for not only smoking but drug use.
Confirmation with mouse study
30 mice were studied: 10 with aerosolized vitamin E acetate; 10 with aerosolized eliquid (propylene glycol & glycerine); and 10 with air (control). The first group were given the equivalent dose of vitamin E acetate that a person vaping the illegal THC cart would get. Those mice developed the same lung injury. The injury was not present in the eliquid nor the air groups.
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or
Basic Vaping Info
Basic vaping information
The facts will surprise youIn a nutshell:
Reduce the toxins, reduce the harm
Harm reduction means to reduce the consequences of risky behaviours such as wearing a helmet when biking or using a condom during sex. Vaping provides the smoker with nicotine but does not contain the chemicals found in cigarette smoke that cause disease. Therefore, vaping is tobacco harm reduction (THR).
This 30 second video explains the epidemic that is related to vaping.
Learn how vaping compares to smoking in this two minute video.
Harm reduction in healthcare
Since 2016, the United Kingdom (UK) has been successfully helping smokers quit by utilizing vaping. Vaping has been studied since it’s invention in 2004. Through ongoing review of the credible evidence, the UK scientific community continues to affirm that vaping is less than 5% the risk of smoking and an effective smoking cessation aid.
Pages in this section:
Smoking is the most preventable cause of disease and death in North America.
Vaping satisfies the habit of smoking without the devastating consequences.
The simple ingredients in eliquid have been thoroughly analyzed for safety.
By reducing the toxins that enter the body, health has been shown to improve.
The transition to harm reduction is easier if it is pleasurable.
Nicotine is a stimulant that can cause dependency but does not cause disease.
Start here:
Flavours
Flavours
Adults like flavoursVAEP Shareables are images utilizing graphics, colour and text to quickly teach people about vaping. Each Shareable provides the reference on the bottom.
Making harm reduction appealing
Adults like flavours. The drive to enjoying flavours has lead to 27% of adult Canadians and 42% adult Americans to obesity. Flavours in vaping don’t cause obesity but they offer a more pleasurable taste experience for smokers than cigarettes.
People vape to quit smoking
The fear-provoking narrative is that youth are trying vaping because of flavours. It’s normal for youth to mess with adult taboos like cigarettes which taste gross. Surveys clearly show that the majority of people who try vaping do so to quit smoking.
Essential to success
Vaping market is driven by demand
Adult smokers have driven the demand for the eliquid flavours sold in adult only vape shops. This lead to competition between eliquid manufacturers and thousands of flavours are now available.
Flavours to quit and stay quit
Cigarette smoke is more addictive than nicotine. Flavours in eliquid offer an incentive to detox off the chemicals found in smoke while still getting nicotine. New flavours make vaping novel & help them stay quit.
What happens if you take away flavours?
Banning flavours in eliquid won’t stop youth from abusing adult products but it will make harm reduction less appealing to smokers. Many vapers may return to the most deadly form of nicotine: cigarettes.
Harm promotion
Black market means great risk
Canada has strict eliquid manufacturing regulations and in the USA, eliquid manufactures self-regulate to keep eliquid safe. Harm reduction is what attracts smokers to vaping and flavours is what makes it pleasurable.
Banning flavours will drive eliquid into the black market which will promote harm.
Nonprofits rely on smoking
It’s all about money
Around 1 million Canadians and 14 million Americans suffer with smoking-related diseases. Nonprofits for smoking-related diseases such as lung, cardiovascular, cancer and stroke are working hard to stop harm reduction for smokers.
Nonprofits want flavour bans
If smokers switch to vaping and never get smoking-related diseases, what happens to the nonprofits that rely on these diseases for continued donations and fund raising? Industries that profit from smoking illnesses also fund these nonprofits.
Nonprofits rely on smoking
It’s all about money
Around 1 million Canadians and 14 million Americans suffer with smoking-related diseases. Nonprofits for smoking-related diseases such as lung, cardiovascular, cancer and stroke are working hard to stop harm reduction for smokers.
Nonprofits want flavour bans
If smokers switch to vaping and never get smoking-related diseases, what happens to the nonprofits that rely on these diseases for continued donations and fund raising? Industries that profit from smoking illnesses also fund these nonprofits.
Youth and flavours
Using youth to sway you
Young people are being recruited to push the flavour ban. These young people are not made aware of the importance of flavoured eliquid for adult smokers and how vaping is preventing their friends from becoming smokers.
Youth try adult stuff
All teenagers are curious about adult activities. This is why 52% vaped “to give it a try”. 14% vaped because they “liked the flavours”. Since, smoking tastes gross, perhaps the flavours in eliquid is preventing them from becoming smokers.
It’s the ‘heady’, not the flavors
Youth are seeking a head buzz from abusing JUULs by inhaling too much nicotine. Teens call it a “heady” and 8.3% of grade 8-12 students are “JUULing” to get high. JUUL has less than 5 flavours. Banning 1000’s of eliquid flavours will make harm reduction unattractive to adult smokers.
Youth are vaping drugs
Over 20,000 US youth were surveyed. Of the high school students that reported they had ever tried vaping, 1 out of 3 admitted they used cannabis in a vaping device. They are abusing vaping to get a heady or to get high. Is this a reason to ban flavours and make harm reduction less appealing to adult smokers?
Ban flavours in alcohol first
Flavors are KEY to helping smokers switch to vaping and stay off of cigarettes. Governments are pushing to ban flavors in eliquid to save the children although no one has died from eliquid. There are thousands of alcohol flavours and each year 4300 youth die from alcohol.
For more information on youth and vaping, please visit our VAEP Shareables gallery and choose the “Youth” category.
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Outcomes
Outcomes
Reducing harm improves health.VAEP Shareables are images utilizing graphics, colour and text to quickly teach people about vaping. Each Shareable provides the reference on the bottom.
Health improvements
It just makes sense
Due to the toxins, smoking causes adverse health consequences. The good news is that when you stop smoking, the toxic chemicals are no longer entering the body. This means health will improve with quitting smoking. Vaping significantly lowers these toxins which improves health.
Immediate health improvements
We don’t know the long-term effects of vaping but we do know the long-term effects of smoking: it destroys the smoker’s health. Smokers that switch to vaping, report improved health. Smokers that don’t switch to vaping continue to destroy their health.
Gaining better health
When asthmatic smokers switched to vaping: spirometry data, airway hype-responsiveness, exacerbations and subjective signs & symptoms ALL showed improvements.
Of those that continued to smoke, they went from 22 cigarettes a day to just 2.
Lungs get healthier
The majority of vapers reported a decrease in lung infection rates after they switched to vaping. Of the 5% that reported an increase in lung infections, the increases were due to lifestyle changes such as having children and the resulting exposure to more infectious illnesses.
Smokers are profitable for pharmaceuticle companies
Improved health means less drugs
Smoking is a risk factor for many chronic diseases because of the harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke. Switching to vaping virtually eliminates these harmful chemicals. As a result, these people may not develop the inevitable smoking-related diseases and those with chronic diseases improve. This means billions of dollars lost in potential revenue for the pharmaceutical industry.
Ineffective treatments keep smokers smoking
Vaping is a “disruptive technology” in that it replaces other smoking reduction methods. The pharmaceutical industry makes smoking cessation aids and drugs for all those smoking related diseases. Compared to vaping, the smoking cessation aids produced by pharmaceutical companies have very poor success, which keeps smokers smoking and ensures they will develop smoking-related diseases.
Follow the money
Who profits from smoking?
Smokers get smoking-related diseases that are treated with drugs. Future smokers are future revenue for BigPharma. Youth are experimenting with vaping instead of smoking which means they won’t become smokers and get those smoking-related diseases. Agencies that are funded by BigPharma are pushing to ban vaping.
Cancer
Reducing the causes of cancer, reduces cancer
Anyone who suggests that vaping is not safer than smoking does NOT know what they are talking about! Whoever it is, your physician, a nurse or a representative from a health-related nonprofit, question EVERYTHING they say after that.
Calculating the benefits of vaping
Science is universal. The United Kingdom’s scientific community reviewed the evidence on vaping in 2014. As a result, vaping is promoted by their health agencies. Health professionals in Canada and the USA have followed WHO instructions to reject vaping.
The Canadian cancer industry
The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) has an annual revenue of about $187 million. Yearly, cancer from smoking kills over 21,000 Canadians and more suffer with cancer. What would happen to CCS revenue if smokers switched to harm reduction and got less cancer?
Cancer is profitable
The American Cancer Society (ACS) makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year because people get cancer. This ensures funding and donations to their organization. Vaping has o.5% the risk for cancer compared to smoking. ACS strongly discourages smokers from switching to vaping.
Junk science
Global misinformation
Workers in a popcorn butter flavouring factory, (diacetyl was a main ingredient) had higher cases of “popcorn lung”. A study found diacetyl in some eliquids, The amount was 750x less than found cigarettes. Headlines around the world read: “Vaping Causes Popcorn Lung!”
Junk science
Global misinformation
Workers in a popcorn butter flavouring factory, (diacetyl was a main ingredient) had higher cases of “popcorn lung”. A study found diacetyl in some eliquids, The amount was 750x less than found cigarettes. Headlines around the world read: “Vaping Causes Popcorn Lung!”
Youth and industry
Youth have always done stupid stuff
Commercial industries aren’t responsible to the stupid stuff youth do. Youth abuse alcohol & drugs. Yet, alcohol and pharmaceutical industries aren’t being held responsible for teen alcohol and drug abuse. Youth are also abusing vaping. The vaping industry aren’t responsible for teens abusing vaping.
Ex-smokers helping smokers
Mom and Pop vape shops were started by people who quit smoking with vaping. They quit their careers and invested their savings into their own businesses to help smokers in their communities. The are small businesses employing local people, NOT tobacco companies. Misinformation from media & authority have demonized them and turned their communities against them.
For more information on youth and vaping, please visit our VAEP Shareables gallery and choose the “Youth” category.
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Nicotine
Nicotine
A mild stimulant, much like caffeineVAEP Shareables are images utilizing graphics, colour and text to quickly teach people about vaping. Each Shareable provides the reference on the bottom.
Nicotine myth
Like any substance, too much can cause adverse effects. For instance 4000mg of Tylenol can cause severe liver damage.
Medications that are available on the shelves in a drug store are called over-the-counter (OTC) medications. They available without a prescription and used safely by the public.
More on nicotine
Nicotine treats neurological disorders
Nicotine is a mild stimulant and can form a dependance, much like caffeine. Nicotine in eliquid helps smokers transition to a source of nicotine that doesn’t kill them.
Nicotine is in your body
Nightshade plants naturally have nicotine in them to protect them from insects. So if you eat tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplants, you have nicotine in your body.
Fraction of the harm
Vaping offers the smoker an alternative that allows them to continue inhaling nicotine without all the disease causing chemicals found in cigarette smoke.
Nicotine is not the problem
Dr. John Britton of the U.K. Center for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies explains that nicotine addiction isn’t a big deal because “…nicotine itself isn’t particularly hazardous.”
It’s not the nicotine which causes harm
Burning something causes toxins to form whether it is tobacco, or wood, or fabric. Vaping heats a liquid into a gasseous state like water into steam.
An extensive and facinating investigation
This documentary was motivated by the pervasive fear-provoking narratives on nicotine. It’s surprising what they discovered!
It’s not the nicotine which causes harm
Burning something causes toxins to form whether it is tobacco, or wood, or fabric. Vaping heats a liquid into a gasseous state like water into steam.
An extensive and facinating investigation
This documentary was motivated by the pervasive fear-provoking narratives on nicotine. It’s surprising what they discovered!
Nicotine and fear
Nicotine alters rat brains
It would be unethical to give nicotine to teens and then test their brains. In this referenced study used by Health Canada to scare smokers away from harm reduction, rats were given nicotine all day through an IV (2mg/kg/d).
Tobacco smoke causes damage
Tobacco smoke has 7000 chemicals in it, many of which cause damage to the body. This fear-provoking message from Health Canada suggests that all smokers have some kind of brain damage. How is it that they can identify nicotine as the cause and not the 7000 toxins found in cigarette smoke?
Claims without evidence
Health Canada claims vaping “can” cause lung damage. They provide no evidence to support this speculation. Health Canada “can” deceive the public about harm reduction. They “can” have a motive to promote disease and serve the pharmaceutical industry.
For more information on youth and vaping, please visit our VAEP Shareables gallery and choose the “Youth” category.
Other pages in the Basic Vaping Information section:
Learn about the deception:
Quitting smoking
Quitting smoking
Vaping makes it easierVAEP Shareables are images utilizing graphics, colour and text to quickly teach people about vaping. Each Shareable provides the reference on the bottom.
Using vaping to quit smoking
Vaping triples the quit rate of the patch
Controlled clinical trials are the gold standard of science. In 2014, a group of smokers who didn’t want to quit smoking were given eliquid and simple vapes (the vapes today are even more effective). 21% of the smokers quit smoking; compare that to 6% success with patches.
Smokers finally quit with vaping
Vaping satisfies the nicotine addiction & smoking behaviour PLUS vaping offers thousands of flavours to help the smoker replace the taste of smoke with something better. That is why it is more effective than sticking a patch to your arm or chewing gum.
Half of successful quit attempts was with vaping
The 5.7 million Canadian and 34 million American smokers demand for a safer alternative has driven the vaping industry’s growth. If vaping didn’t help smokers quit smoking then there would be no vaping industry.
Using vaping to quit smoking
Vaping triples the quit rate of the patch
Controlled clinical trials are the gold standard of science. In 2014, a group of smokers who didn’t want to quit smoking were given eliquid and simple vapes (the vapes today are even more effective). 21% of the smokers quit smoking; compare that to 6% success with patches.
Smokers finally quit with vaping
Vaping satisfies the nicotine addiction & smoking behaviour PLUS vaping offers thousands of flavours to help the smoker replace the taste of smoke with something better. That is why it is more effective than sticking a patch to your arm or chewing gum.
Half of successful quit attempts was with vaping
The 5.7 million Canadian and 34 million American smokers demand for a safer alternative has driven the vaping industry’s growth. If vaping didn’t help smokers quit smoking then there would be no vaping industry.
How vaping works
Vaping uniquely satisfies the ritualistic behaviour
The ritual: bringing the smoke to the mouth; tasting the drag; sensations in the throat & lungs on a big inhale; a visible exhale and nicotine enters the blood through the lungs. A pack-a-day smoker does this 87,600 times a year. Vaping uniquely satisfies this ritual.
Vaping is NRT only better
Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) such as patches and gums aren’t that effective because they don’t replace the behaviour. Smokers are experts at self dosing nicotine through inhalation. Eliquid is nicotine in a rather benign base & allows the smoker to continue getting nicotine through inhalation.
Weaning off nicotine with vaping
After dual use for a while, a large percent of vapers quit smoking. Because eliquid comes in a variety of nicotine strengths (mg/ml), the vast majority of those that switch to vaping, lower their nicotine strengths; some all the way down to zero.
Dual users have a 60-80% decrease in smoking
The anti-harm reduction zealots claim that vaping is ineffective for quitting smoking because many dual use for a while. Dual users observed in controlled clinical trials reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke by 60-80%. This significantly reduces the toxins they inhale.
Why are people vaping?
People vape to quit smoking
This bar graph illustrates that the MAIN reason for vaping is smokers seeking to quit. Flavours are not the main reason but vaping wouldn’t work if it didn’t offer smokers a more pleasurable and novel experience than smoking because cigarette smoke is more addictive than nicotine on its own.
Types of people that vape
Surveys and reports show that less than half a percent of people that never smoked are vaping. However, 15% of smokers and 13% of ex-smokers vape. This shows that SMOKERS are vaping to either quit smoking or stay quit. They deserve to continue to have access to harm reduction.
Medical smoking cessation
Dying to quit
Smoking is so bad for health and so hard to quit that doctors prescribe psychoactive medications to help their patients quit. Side effects include killing yourself.
What does your doctor recommend?
Health professionals that understand tobacco harm reduction understand the difference of nicotine dependence and addiction. Dependence is when the body has a tolerance to a substance and experiences withdrawal without it. Addiction is the same except there are negative consequences for the dependence such as smoking-related diseases.
Youth and smoking uptake
Smoke vs vapour and addiction
Eliquid contains 4 ingredients and only the nicotine can cause dependence. The chances of a youth becoming a smoker is 20 times higher if they start their experimentation with smoking verses with vaping. Vaping is interrupting the historical process of creating smokers.
Preventing the next generation of smokers
A common fear tactic is to suggest that vaping leads youth to smoking. If that was the case then the increase in youth vaping would mean an increase in youth smoking. This graph clearly shows that youth smoking continues to decline.
The next generation of nonsmokers
This graph shows the trend in current smoking rates of Canadian 15-19 year olds over 18 years. Within 5 years of vaping being introduced, the youth smoking rate decreased at double the highest previous decrease! Is vaping preventing youth smoking uptake?
For more information on youth and vaping, please visit our VAEP Shareables gallery and choose the “Youth” category.
Next page:
Vaping
Vaping
Less than 5% the risk of smokingVAEP Shareables are images utilizing graphics, colour and text to quickly teach people about vaping. Each Shareable provides the reference on the bottom.
The UK benefits their citizens with harm reduction
Unlike Canada and the USA, the United Kingdom bases their vaping policies on the thousands of published scientific articles that consistently show that vaping is the best option to help smokers quit.
Harm reduction
Harm reduction reduces risk
Most of us are familiar with and support harm reduction such as seat belts or bike helmets. Smoking is the most preventable cause of disease and death in North America! It’s very hard to quit smoking, so harm reduction is the solution for many smokers to reduce the harm of their nicotine dependance.
Relative risk of nicotine sources
The standard scientific tool for measuring the harm from drug use is the MCDA (multi-criteria decision analysis). Experts compared 12 different sources of nicotine using the MCDA. The most harmful source were cigarettes so they were given the value of 100%. The other 11 sources show the relative risk of harm compared to smoking.
Vaping is a fraction the risk
Citizens have a right to life which means they have a right to all the information to make informed decisions about preserving health. They also should have access to and be able to effectively utilize harm reduction to protect health such as condoms, seat belts and vaping.
Elimination of disease causing toxins
“People smoke for nicotine but they die from tar.” -M. Russell
WHO prioritized the 9 most toxic chemicals found in tobacco smoke for reduction. Vaping significantly reduces or eliminates these toxic chemicals! As to formaldehyde, it is naturally occurring in exhaled breath.
Government oversight
Ingredients in eliquid & vapour
Over 7000 harmful chemicals are produced when the chemically laden cigarette is burned including: carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, hydrocarbons, nitrous oxide, free radicals, radioactive compounds, arsenic, phenols & 69 carcinogens These aren’t found in vapour.
Government regulations
“If you are a smoker, vaping is a less harmful option than smoking.” Health Canada. Vaping nicotine is less than 5% the risk of smoking and the government limits what can be put into the eliquids to keep it that way.
Indoor vaping
Rigorous analysis of vapour
Unlike 100 years ago when smoking came around, science has analyzed thousands of chemicals. All of those chemicals have been tested for safety to establish Threshold Limit Values (TLV). Vapour was compared to TLV and passed with flying colours.
Second hand vapour
Top health agencies in the US tested for hazardous chemicals in the air in a vape shop with active vaping. The vast majority of chemicals were not even detected! Friends and family of vapers can feel comfortable around vaping and support smokers making the switch.
Youth and vaping
Helping smokers doesn’t harm children
In Great Britain, vaping is recognized as a significant harm reduction strategy and is promoted by their public health. Yet, less than 2% of 11-18 year olds vape more than once a week. WHERE is the youth vaping epidemic in Great Britain?
The concept of harm reduction is ignored
Young people have been recruited to distract from the harm reduction aspect of vaping and replace it with fear of youth becoming addicted to nicotine. The problem with this focus is it denies the millions of smokers in North America from learning about an effective harm reduction option.
Developing a dependance
Health authorities and media claim that youth are becoming dependent on nicotine because of vaping. Dependence to nicotine means daily use. Youth that have never smoked are not daily vapers. But youth that would have becomes smokers are vaping instead.
Government confirmation bias
To compare statistical data from year to year, the parameters of that data must remain the same. The Government of Canada changed the parameters of youth vaping data which falsely inflates the numbers and perpetuates the fear-provoking narrative.
For more information on youth and vaping, please visit our VAEP Shareables gallery and choose the “Youth” category.
It’s smokers that are vaping
The next generation of smokers is being interrupted by vaping. 99.9% of those that vape everyday, and therefore are dependant, consists of people with a smoking history.
This documentary investigated vaping during the height of the media frenzy to demonize vaping. It offers a comprehensive, indepth look at tobacco harm reduction.
It’s smokers that are vaping
The next generation of smokers is being interrupted by vaping. 99.9% of those that vape everyday, and therefore are dependant, consists of people with a smoking history.
This documentary investigated vaping during the height of the media frenzy to demonize vaping. It offers a comprehensive, indepth look at tobacco harm reduction.
Next page:
EVALI
Vaping & Lung Injuries (EVALI)
In 2019, a sudden outbreak of severe lung injuries, some causing death, occurred in North America, mainly in the USA. Vitamin E acetate was identified as the additive in illegal THC cartridges that caused the injuries.