Consumer Choice Center published a new factsheet with the latest research demonstrating why vaping is not a gateway to smoking.

Main findings:

• Fact number 1. The essence of e-cigarettes is different from that of conventional cigarettes, and their purpose is to serve as a safer alternative that reduces health-associated risks.
• Fact number 2. Nicotine, also found in e-cigarettes and used in conventional nicotine replacement therapy, doesn’t increase the risk of serious illnesses (heart attack, stroke) or mortality.
• Fact number 3. Youth use of e-cigarettes is rare and most users are current or former smokers. 
• Fact number 4. Vaping flavour bans might increase the cigarette uptake among teens and young adults and push adult vapers back to smoking.

“Most anti-vaping arguments fail to take into account the fact that vaping devices target tobacco consumers. This is similar to sugar consumption by people who suffer from diabetes: sugar substitutes are not a gateway to sugar because consumers switch to avoid the harmful effects of sugar. Sugar substitutes are not blamed for increased sugar consumption, and vaping devices serve a similar purpose should be equally endorsed,” said Maria Chaplia, Research Manager at the Consumer Choice Center and a co-author of the paper.

“We want our factsheet to be used by policymakers in Europe and across the world as a guide to a pro-consumer, pro-science, and pro-choice approach to lifestyle regulations. Vaping does help adult smokers quit. Our factsheet provides a valuable overview of the main studies on vaping, and we hope it will increase awareness of this harm reduction tool,” concluded Chaplia.

Today, the Consumer Choice Center, a global consumer advocacy group, released the updated 2022 Pandemic Resilience Index to overview global health system preparedness for COVID-19 and other viruses.

The Index examines 40 countries through the following factors: vaccination drive, booster programme launch, time lags that have put brakes on it, critical care bed capacity, and mass testing.

In 2021, the Consumer Choice Center published the Pandemic Resilience Index, with March 31, 2021 as the cut off date. The original results found that the UAE was the second most prepared country. The updated Index incorporates the new data between the end of March and late November, 2021, and additionally considers the booster programme.

“The UAE was the pioneer of the booster rollout. Countries such as New Zealand, Ukraine, Australia, Spain and Canada took 5 months longer to get it up and running. Compared to the initial results, the change in the ranking is largely due to the booster vaccine rollout delays. Israel, the most resilient country, according to the original Index, started giving out boosters 75 days later than the UAE,” said Maria Chaplia, Research Manager at the Consumer Choice Center and author of the Index.

“We also considered the relative change in testing, compared to the original index. Although Greece’s increase was highest, the UAE was among the top five countries to have increased their testing. Luxembourg and Sweden, for contrast, reduced their testing,” added Chaplia.

“We recognise that there are limitations to what this Index can achieve, as well as there might be a minor margin of error. However, it holds that vaccination and testing capacity remain a critical weapon against new strains of COVID. Most countries have learned the importance of testing, but the booster vaccination rollout experienced significant delays. The index should be seen as a reminder that there are countries that do it better — such as the UAE, Cyprus, and Bahrain — and they should be further explored as success stories,” concluded Chaplia.