[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.0.5″ custom_padding=”0px||0px|||” locked=”off”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.0.6″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.0.6″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/YOW-logo.png” url=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ height=”270px” custom_padding=”||0px|||”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_social_media_follow use_icon_font_size=”on” icon_font_size=”13px” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ text_orientation=”right” min_height=”18px” custom_margin=”-85px||-32px|||” custom_padding=”0px||1px|||”][et_pb_social_media_follow_network social_network=”instagram” url=”https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/yowpublication\/” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ background_color=”#e8377c” background_enable_color=”on” follow_button=”off” url_new_window=”on”]instagram[\/et_pb_social_media_follow_network][et_pb_social_media_follow_network social_network=”twitter” url=”https:\/\/twitter.com\/Yowpublication” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ background_color=”#5ce1e6″ background_enable_color=”on” follow_button=”off” url_new_window=”on”]twitter[\/et_pb_social_media_follow_network][et_pb_social_media_follow_network social_network=”youtube” url=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCj4rs1qjq7orfknOqBrnaKw” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ background_color=”#ffb859″ background_enable_color=”on” follow_button=”off” url_new_window=”on”]youtube[\/et_pb_social_media_follow_network][\/et_pb_social_media_follow][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.22″ background_color=”#f7f7f7″ custom_padding=”||1px|||” locked=”off”][et_pb_fullwidth_menu fullwidth_menu=”off” dropdown_menu_bg_color=”#f2f2f2″ dropdown_menu_line_color=”#5ce1e6″ dropdown_menu_text_color=”#000000″ logo=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Copy-of-About-YOW-3.png” show_search_icon=”on” search_icon_color=”#5ce1e6″ cart_icon_font_size=”20px” search_icon_font_size=”20px” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ menu_font=”News Cycle|600|||||||” menu_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.81)” menu_font_size=”18px” menu_letter_spacing=”1px” background_color=”#f2f2f2″ min_height=”48px” custom_margin=”-1px|||||” custom_padding=”0px||0px|||” border_width_top=”1px” border_width_right=”0px” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_width_left=”0px” menu_line_height__hover_enabled=”off|desktop”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_menu][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ locked=”off”][et_pb_fullwidth_post_title categories=”off” comments=”off” featured_image=”off” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ title_font=”News Cycle|700|||||||” title_text_color=”#ffffff” title_font_size=”41px” meta_text_color=”#ffffff” background_image=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/MVIMG_20191106_145500.jpg” height=”736px” custom_margin=”-1px||||false|false” custom_padding=”597px||||false|false”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_post_title][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″ custom_padding=”4px||0px|||”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”0px|||||”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.0.6″ text_font_size=”13px” text_orientation=”center” min_height=”34px” custom_margin=”3px||1px|||”]<\/p>\n
Photo illustration by Hannah Rivkin.<\/p>\n
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As reports of vaping related illnesses mount, both pro and anti-vaping advocates are calling for change.<\/p>\n
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On Thursday, the eighth Canadian case of vaping-related illness was confirmed in the Outaouais region.<\/span><\/p>\n The Nov. 14 confirmation arrives on the heels of heated debates from public health experts on how the government should be responding to the rise in popularity of vaping.<\/p>\n Pro-vaping advocates argue these devices decrease rates of cigarette smoking, a known killer. Those on the anti-vaping side fear that charging full force into a cloud of vaporized chemicals could be hazardous.<\/p>\n \u201cTo purposely inhale something that is not known to be safe and is considered to be dangerous, even though the exact nature of the dangers aren’t known, is risky,\u201d said Cynthia Callard, the executive director of Physicians for a Smoke Free Canada.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us to know the exact dangers on human beings means we have to kill people.\u201d<\/p>\n Callard\u2019s\u00a0 Ottawa-based think tank addresses tobacco issues. The vaping question, she said, is one of the first times she has seen the scientific community divided on tobacco issues.<\/p>\n \u201cPro\u201d vaping arguments purport that it is a safer alternative to smoking, a tool known to be much less harmful than cigarettes in the short term.<\/p>\n On the flip side, Callard said there is a lack of long-term human health data on vaping and correlation to death or illness.<\/p>\n Questions around who has died or gotten sick, and how does that correlate with those who vaped over the long term, have yet to be answered.<\/p>\n Callard said there\u2019s a silver lining to the recent high profile vaping related deaths and illnesses: people are finally paying attention.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/trish-edits.png” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ custom_margin=”||-2px|||”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.0.6″ text_font_size=”13px” text_line_height=”1.2em” min_height=”55px” custom_margin=”-1px||1px|||”]<\/p>\n Sources: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Government of Canada. Graphic Illustration by Hannah Rivkin.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.0.6″ custom_margin=”2px|-2px|1px|0px||” custom_padding=”0px|0px||0px||”]<\/p>\n The harm reduction free market debate<\/strong><\/p>\n David Sweanor, an active advocate for a pro-vaping market, said that getting smokers to switch to vaping \u201cwould be one of the biggest breakthroughs in public health ever.\u201d<\/p>\n He is an adjunct professor of law and the chair of the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics\u00a0 at the University of Ottawa. He also sits on the international advisory board for the Boston University School of Public Health.<\/p>\n Fueled by massive popularity and profits, the vape is quickly becoming sleeker, cheaper and better able to deliver more nicotine. According to Sweanor, this is a good thing.<\/p>\n Competition accelerates product advancement. For Sweanor, this means safer and cheaper products for those who wish to make the switch.<\/p>\n While vape products may improve, questions remain on how even the most perfectly designed and regulated vape products would affect human health over long periods of time.<\/p>\n Research has a solution: experiment with animal and human tissue.<\/p>\n For Sweanor, doing this research is imperfect and causes undue fear.<\/p>\n For Callard, the results of animal and human tissue research prove worrisome.<\/p>\n In a 2018 study<\/a> that used both mice and cells, for example, it was demonstrated that chronic exposure to e-cigarette vapour led to thickening and scarring in certain organs, as well as a significant increase in inflammation.<\/p>\n These kinds of studies are a start, but don\u2019t always reflect what is being consumed in the market. Much of this research was initially funded by tobacco companies themselves. Different devices heat the vaped liquid to different temperatures, and introduce an array of chemicals into the body.<\/p>\n There are a thousand possibilities for a product that has already made its way into the mainstream.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ban-ish?<\/strong><\/p>\n In the meantime, people are asking if the federal government should be imposing heavy regulations on the vaping market, such as banning flavours that appeal to young people. Sweanor says no.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople will turn to the black market, a less safe unregulated version of what is currently offered,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is knockoff products from the blackmarkets that are causing many of the vaping related health issues.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the 1980s, he has taken a very active role within public health issues, particularly dealing with smoking. Sweanor emphasized another disastrous effect of heavy \u201cnon-rational\u201d regulations: people returning to cigarettes for their nicotine habits.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cThere are 40,000 deaths a month in the United States from smoking cigarettes,\u201d said Sweanor.<\/p>\n The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States estimate there are 480,000 cigarette-related deaths each year. In the last year, the centers have reported 39 deaths related to vaping.<\/a><\/p>\n Even in the context of recent deaths, then, vaping appears to be a safer option.<\/p>\n A 2015 study by the Royal College of Physicians <\/a>\u00a0found that according to \u201cbest estimates\u201d e-cigarettes are around 95 per cent less harmful than smoking.<\/p>\n In that same study, researchers found that \u201cnearly half the population, 44.8 per cent, don\u2019t realize that e-cigarettes are much less harmful than smoking.\u201d<\/p>\n Should consumers be thinking about trading in one high risk activity for another, less risky one, at least in the short term?<\/p>\n For Sweanor, the logical answer is yes, and let the free market do the work of engineering an ever-better, ever-safer product.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Moral panic, hype and stigma<\/strong><\/p>\n