I started smoking before my teens. I didn’t enjoy smoking. It harmed my health and made me stink, but what bothered me most was I was powerless over my addiction.
I tried everything to quit. Sometimes, I would quit for a few months or even a few years, but one drag and I was a pack-a-day smoker within a week.
In 2013, bought a vape online and I haven’t had a single urge to smoke since. Vaping freed me from the grip of tobacco addiction when all else failed!
I wanted to understand what I was inhaling, so I read hundreds of scientific articles on vaping. As a result of my Bachelor of Science in Nursing, I am trained to interpret science and form an educated opinion. I am satisfied that vaping is not only exceedingly less harmful than smoking but it is an appealing alternative to current smokers and is preventing future smokers.
After talking with people about vaping, it became clear that what they thought they knew about vaping was either incomplete or just outright incorrect. They were learning misinformation, half-truths, information out of context, and worse, they didn’t know very important information. I became concerned that the public and my colleagues lacked the facts to make informed decisions about vaping.
During my years as a hospital RN, I have provided care, including palliative, to hundreds of patients with smoking-related diseases. These diseases destroy the patient’s quality of life and negatively affect their friends, family and society.
Smoking-related diseases are 100% preventable.
I formed VAEP to help people learn the truth about vaping. Smokers have a right to know, and so does the public.
-Kellie Ann
Kellie Ann did her original research on vaping in 2014. In 2015, she copyrighted a paper, “Vaping, the Truth” in both English and French reflecting on Canadian data. Another version was produced reflecting American data.
This is a timestamp illustrating the evidence that vaping is a harm reduction strategy has been available since 2014.
Quickly gain comprehensive understanding of the major areas in vaping. Sections consist of several pages, each on a specific topic. You choose which topics you want to learn about.
Basic Vaping Info
Learn from the science, everything you need to know about vaping as a harm reduction strategy. This section covers cigarettes, quitting smoking , tobacco harm reduction, vaping outcomes, flavours and nicotine.
Vaping & Lung Injuries
From August to September 2019, an outbreak of vaping related lung injuries occurred in the USA. The cause was illegal THC cartridges and had nothing to do with vaping nicotine. Authority and media did not tell the truth.
Shareables
Dozens of images on key concepts to share on social media. Explore
To make the truth about vaping common knowledge throughout the general population
Our vision
To make the truth about vaping common knowledge throughout the general population
VAEP is a grass roots nonprofit founded by a registered nurse to help people learn the truth about vaping.
After reviewing the scientific evidence, we format the information in a way that anyone can understand it.
VAEP is founded on nursing principles such as:
self-directed learning from credible resources.
teaching others so they can make informed decisions.
respecting a person’s right to make their own decisions.
Our Mission
Through advocacy and education, disseminate to the general population accurate and comprehensive information about vaping. Ensure smokers can make an informed decision about vaping as a smoking alternative.
Our objectives
Unify the growing numbers of knowledgeable vapers and their passion for vaping by engaging them in the development and implementation of a population education campaign.
Create support for the effective utilization of vaping within non-vaping populations such as government, non-profit organizations and healthcare agencies by providing access to vaping information and facilitating informed decision making within those groups.
Our Mission
Through advocacy and education, disseminate to the general population accurate and comprehensive information about vaping. Ensure smokers can make an informed decision about vaping as a smoking alternative.
Our objectives
Unify the growing numbers of knowledgeable vapers and their passion for vaping by engaging them in the development and implementation of a population education campaign.
Create support for the effective utilization of vaping within non-vaping populations such as government, non-profit organizations and healthcare agencies by providing access to vaping information and facilitating informed decision making within those groups.
In keeping with nursing principles, our corporate code of ethics is based on medical bioethics.
Nonmaleficence
to not cause harm or minimizing the possible harm to reach a beneficial outcome. It prohibits causing offence, suffering, or deprivation. Nonmaleficence includes respect for confidentiality and privacy. VAEP considers potential harm and its effects in the decision-making process and in the outcomes of its actions.
Beneficence
to act in a way that aims to benefit others. Examples would be preventing harm, reducing harm, protecting rights or improving a situation for others. Beneficence also means to create a safe, inclusive and supportive environment on our social media. Beneficence is the objective of all of VAEP planning and actions.
Autonomy
to respect a person’s right to make their own decisions and support their decisions. This prohibits manipulation and coercion. Autonomy includes giving people all of the information they need to make an informed decision. Promoting autonomy requires VAEP to stay current in credible evidence and providing that evidence without bias.
Justice
to treat people fairly without discrimination or prejudice. It’s a respect for people’s rights and distribution of resources evenly. Justice prohibits favoritism towards individuals or groups; bullying of anyone at any time; and abuse of any nature. We at VAEP are mindful to communicate respectfully and to facilitate inclusiveness whenever possible.
VAEP 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The tobacco industry relies on youth experimentation for their next generation of smokers. The pharmaceutical industry relies on smoking for future customers.
Human adolescence involves high levels of risk taking, experimentation, new experiences, sensation seeking, social development and playing around. This involves trying adult taboos such as smoking, vaping and sex.
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’.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
During the EVALI outbreak, the US House of Representatives attempted to ban vaping nicotine which didn’t cause EVALI and promote cannabis use which did cause EVALI.
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 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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
Due to the deception that vaping nicotine was the cause of EVALI, sales of the new cannabis products were not interrupted but how many vapers switched back to the most lethal form of nicotine: tobacco cigarettes?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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 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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Illegal THC cartridges caused the death of 68 people. Smoking kills half a million Americans and over 45,000 Canadians every year. Vaping nicotine has helped millions of smokers quit and has not killed anyone.
Despite the overwhelming evidence, the public were constantly bombarded with claims that vaping nicotine caused EVALI. Thousands of vapers that had successfully quit smoking with vaping, returned to smoking out of fear.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
VAEP 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.
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.
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.
Smokers prefer the taste of their cigarette brand. That is why they want tobacco flavours when they start vaping. Once get used to vaping, they move away from tobacco flavours to stay away from cigarettes.
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.
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.
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.
In 2019, health agencies such as the Canadian Medical Association Journal unjustly included eliquid as a contributor to EVALI. The deception was followed by a demand to create new harm by making flavours in eliquid illegal & driving it underground.
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.
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.
Did you know that people that run ‘health-related’ nonprofits have histories of working for big corporations that profit off of sick people? These same people cycle into gov’t agencies, academic institutions & back to high paying corporate positions.
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.
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.
Did you know that people that run ‘health-related’ nonprofits have histories of working for big corporations that profit off of sick people? These same people cycle into gov’t agencies, academic institutions & back to high paying corporate positions.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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?
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.
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!”
This study made headlines claiming that vaping produces carbon monoxide (CO). No CO was produced at manufacture specified levels (55-70 W). They tested only 2 eliquids & at 3 times higher then the specified levels. They measured CO from the wreckage.
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!”
This study made headlines claiming that vaping produces carbon monoxide (CO). No CO was produced at manufacture specified levels (55-70 W). They tested only 2 eliquids & at 3 times higher then the specified levels. They measured CO from the wreckage.
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.
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.
VAEP 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.
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.
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.
Vaping offers the smoker an alternative that allows them to continue inhaling nicotine without all the disease causing chemicals found in cigarette smoke.
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 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 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?
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.
VAEP 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.
Long term vaping increased quitting smoking by 300%
Smokers that bought a vape and used it while still smoking were compared to smokers that didn’t buy a vape. After 2 years, 42% of smokers who also vaped quit smoking, while those that didn’t vape, only 15% quit smoking.
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.
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.
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.
Long term vaping increased quitting smoking by 300%
Smokers that bought a vape and used it while still smoking were compared to smokers that didn’t buy a vape. After 2 years, 42% of smokers who also vaped quit smoking, while those that didn’t vape, only 15% quit smoking.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This quote proposes vaping’s harm reduction potential not only for current smokers but for preventing the next generation of smokers. The graph illustrates the significant drop in American youth smoking rates since vaping has been introduced in the USA.
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?
VAEP 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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The messages from authorities, experts and health-related nonprofits through mainstream media, conflated two distinctively different activities:vapingTHC cartridgesand vapingnicotine eliquid.
THE RESULT WAS, AND IS, A MISINFORMED PUBLIC AND HEALTH COMMUNITY.
Second, implying that nicotine vaping was causing the lung injuries drove thousands of vapers back to the most lethal form of nicotine: tobacco cigarettes.
Pages in this section:
The Story
Explore the events of the outbreak, the investigation to identify the cause, the actions that were taken and how the outbreak was resolved.
Health-related nonprofits and authorities utilized media to spread fear about vaping. Their communications omitted that EVALI was not caused from vaping nicotine.
Payments to American state governments through the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) are proportional to cigarette sales; vaping is a threat to cigarette sales.
The UK reviewed the science on vaping around 2014: before the narratives were formulated and distributed to sovereign nations. They stand alone in being fully informed on and benefiting their citizens with tobacco harm reduction.
