World Vape Day to be Celebrated on May 30

Millions of e-cigarette users, or vapers, across the globe are celebrating World Vape Day on May 30, 2020,  a day before World No Tobacco Day.

World Vape Day aims to raise awareness on e-cigarettes or vapes and encourage smokers who are unable to quit on their own or with currently available smoking cessation tools to switch to safer nicotine products.

“Safer nicotine products, such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, are the most disruptive influence on smoking in decades.These are the innovations that have the potential to save millions of lives in the Asia Pacific region as well as globally,” said Nancy Loucas, executive director of the Coalition of Asia-Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates, or CAPHRA, one of the lead organizers of World Vape Day 2020, according to an article in the Manilla Standard.

“These products have disrupted the standard of harm reduction in tobacco by giving the power back to the smokers to choose the option that works for them and allows them to have agency over their own and their loved one’s health and wellbeing,” she said.
The number of vapers globally has been increasing rapidly from about seven million in 2011 to 41 million in 2018, according to Euromonitor International. The market research group estimates that the number of adult vapers worldwide will reach almost 55 million by 2021.

In its 2018 independent evidence review, Public Health England concluded that “e-cigarettes are around 95% safer than combustible cigarettes.”

Published in March 2020, the agency’s latest report said “Despite reductions in smoking prevalence, smoking remains the biggest single cause of preventable death and disease and a leading cause of health inequalities. So, alternative nicotine delivery devices that are less harmful could play a crucial role in reducing this health burden.”