The Canadian Vaping Association urges consumer feedback

Beamsville, ON, Feb. 26, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- When creating policy for the vaping industry, regulators must consider that their policy has real world health implications for adult smokers, vapers and their families. When consumers and industry provide feedback on regulatory proposals, Canada's regulatory institutions and elected officials, who have been democratically chosen to represent their constituents, must adhere to the time-honoured tradition of receiving public feedback and commentary. The best example of this is the Gazette process which, since 1841, Canadian citizens have relied upon to communicate with Government through their member of parliament and bureaucratic decision makers. This process is the most effective way for Canadians to share their comments, concerns and extensive knowledge with legislators.

Vaping regulation must balance honouring the democratic process by representing the will of the majority with upholding Canada's constitution. Elements such as flavours and nicotine variety are the core components of vaping. This customizability has made vaping the most effective quit aid of all time, as the tailored approach allows for broader success. Evidently, prohibiting access to vaping's core features has deadly consequences for smokers that have chosen vaping products to quit combustible tobacco and reduce their harm. This needs to be communicated by the hundreds of thousands of Canadians that have successfully transitioned.

Consumer campaigns are the best mechanism for consumer voices to be heard and have their success story expressed to regulators. A portion of Canadian's lack an understanding of our regulatory systems and processes. Advocacy groups, such as the CVA, provide mechanisms for consumers to participate in the democratic process and support the democratic principles that Canada was founded upon. The Gazette consultations are intended for all stakeholders and undoubtably consumers must be considered the core stakeholder. Vapour product regulation has a direct impact on consumer health, thus their voices must be the primary consideration.

With the authorization of relative risk statements still pending with Health Canada, many consumers are concerned that consultations will be skewed since polling suggests almost half of Canadians still believe vaping is at least as harmful as smoking. Considering this factor, we fully support consumer campaigns as Health Canada cannot equally weight upcoming consultation submissions while a significant portion of Canadians are ill informed on vaping's relative risk. Canada must work to authorize relative risk statements to ensure Canadians have an informed understanding of the positive role that vaping plays in greatly improving public health.

As regulators genuinely need feedback on the impacts of proposed policy, there is no greater authority than the consumers that the policy directly affects. Have your say by following the links below.

EN - http://thecva.org/have-your-say-eng.html

FR - http://thecva.org/have-your-say-fr.html