Most adult vapers of non-tobacco flavored e-cigarettes overwhelmingly oppose flavor restrictions, according to a recent study.
The study, conducted by the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Waterloo, examined whether regular vapers from Canada, England and the United States who only use non-tobacco flavored e-cigarettes, would support or oppose a ban on all non-tobacco flavors and how they would potentially respond to such a policy.
“Our study helps to fill the gaps in evidence of the possible impact of e-cigarette flavor bans, following from other studies that have predicted how smokers respond to tobacco control policies such as tax increases and menthol bans,” said Professor Geoffrey Fong, co-author and the principal investigator of the ITC Project.
The vaping industry produces thousands of flavored vaping products, such as tobacco, menthol, fruit, and candy. With rising rates of youth vaping, regulators in some countries are grappling with decisions on how to best regulate vaping product flavors to protect public health. A ban on flavored vaping products intends to discourage vaping among youth. But it is not clear whether a flavor ban would also discourage vaping among adult smokers who vape, who also like flavors. However, it is unknown whether there could be unintended effects of a flavor ban. For example, could those who have used flavored e-cigarettes to cut down or quit smoking risk relapsing to smoking if flavored e-cigarettes are no longer available?
Waterloo University – 2021-11-23.
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