On Monday, May 30, the vaping community worldwide will celebrate World Vape Day. The choice of date is not random and falls just one day before the World No Tobacco Day proclaimed by the WHO: precisely to showcase that vaping and other harm reduction tools are one of the most efficient ways to help smokers quit.
Each year, vapers are coming together to show the world why it is worth fighting for vaping. We acknowledge the benefits of tobacco harm reduction and deliver a positive message about vaping and the good it brings to society. We have organised a busy schedule of live streams with some amazing guests from across the vaping community to discuss everything good about vaping and tobacco harm reduction.
Flavours Matter
Over recent months, misinformation and fear-mongering about vaping have intensified significantly. One of the most debated issues around vaping is the regulation of flavours. Consumers can choose from desserts to tobacco, fruit to menthol. This variety allows consumers to customise their switch from smoking to vaping best suited to their tastes.
Due to the growing popularity of vaping, many politicians are pushing for more regulation of the products. Those developments also suggest that flavours will be one of the main issues for the upcoming EU regulation; the Tobacco Products Directive. Overall, it looks like politicians want a flavourless future – even though more than two-thirds of adult vapers use non-tobacco flavours from mint to melon, strawberry to sweet pepper and everything in between. Those using flavours are 230% more likely to quit smoking for good. Banning flavours will leave consumers with a selection of just three equally dreadful options: returning to smoking, the black market or buying their flavours abroad. The University of Waterloo found that 5 out of 10 vapers would turn to illegal sources or start smoking cigarettes again. It will be nothing short of a public health catastrophe.
Policymakers appear determined to ignore these facts by insisting flavour bans make sense. This puts millions of lives at risk and is nothing more than negligence on legislators – those same people who are meant to listen to the people and science are doing the opposite of that. That is why consumers need to speak up and make their voices heard. Politicians need to listen to the thousands of personal stories how vaping flavours allowed people to switch.
It is hurtful that vaping, something which has been proved to have saved the lives of millions of people has been subjected to relentless attack from so-called “public health advocates.” This relentless attack has led to an overwhelmingly negative atmosphere around vaping in recent years.
World Vape Day 2022 is the chance to overcome the negativity and highlight the positive effects of vaping. The worldwide vaping community will come together to celebrate everything vaping has done for us.
Let’s make World Vape Day 2022 one to remember.
