Despite the proven effectiveness of vaping in getting smokers to quit and it being 95 percent safer than smoking, many federal, state and local governments impose strict regulations on vaping products, making it more difficult for the millions of smokers in America to quit. These restrictions contribute to the hundreds of thousands of deaths annually that could be prevented if smokers could more easily quit. Laws imposing taxes, flavor restrictions and outright bans on vaping products prevent smokers from quitting by switching to less dangerous options, costing thousands of lives nationwide.
A recent study from the American Consumer Institute highlights the difference in deaths in each state under a model where vaping had completely replaced smoking. It finds that if all smokers had vaped instead of smoked, deaths from smoking-related diseases would drop by 300,000 yearly.
While we cannot change the past for smokers and former smokers, this study shows the potential deaths that could be prevented in a smoke-free future, assuming regulations do not deprive smokers of options to quit.
The study finds that in California, one of the states with the highest death toll due to smoking, more than 20,000 lives could have been spared from smoking-related deaths in 2019 had a full transition from smoking to vaping already occurred. More than 20,000 additional lives will be lost to smoking in 2024. From 2010 through 2024, more than 300,000 fewer Californians would have died had smoking been replaced by vaping. Nationwide, there would have been more than 4 million fewer deaths during that 15-year period.
Read the full Inside Sources article here.
Justin Leventhal is a senior policy analyst for the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. For more information about the Institute, visit www.TheAmericanConsumer.Org or follow us on Twitter @ConsumerPal.