When University of Waterloo professor David Hammond first shared preliminary results of his teen vaping and smoking study with Health Canada and the media in late 2018, he did so with the “hope” that his findings were just a “blip”; a sentiment he expressed at the time, and again in June 2019 when the study was finally published in the British Medical Journal.
What Professor Hammond and those he selectively shared the data with knew was that the study found a massive increase in the prevalence of teen vaping and smoking (among 16 to 19-year olds) from 2017 to 2018.
The sneak peek Hammond afforded Health Canada provided the regulator enough justification to launch a series of public consultations that are likely to end with new regulations, which may restrict adult access and choice of vaping products, in order to stem the so-called ‘epidemic’ of teen vaping.
In this special edition of RegWatch Dr. Chris Lalonde, professor of psychology at the University of Victoria, joins in an examination of the now public results, of what has become, a controversial study.
Does the study’s reported 45% increase in teen smoking square with newly released data by Statistics Canada (also in June 2019) that shows daily teen smoking is statistically near undetectable?
Is the study’s reported 74% increase in teen vaping based on relevant measures?
Find out—Only on RegWatch by RegulatorWatch.com.
Produced by: Brent Stafford
Released: July 3, 2019
Want More Investigative Content?
I would rather see teens vaping than Smoking, the statistics include teens who have tried vaping but are not regular vapers. If the steep rise was in regular vapers then it would be worrying, the biggest issue is the number of teens who have tried cigarettes and become regular smokers