Monday was Anti-Vaping Awareness Day (AVD) in Canada.
The CN Tower was lit up in yellow and black to mark the occasion. The tower has lit up with different colours to mark occasions such as Firefighters Day or Huntington’s Disease Awareness Day.
However, the Canadian anti-vaping stunt has attracted backlash from vapers, brands and advocates on Twitter.
Twitter Backlash
The majority of Twitter user comments highlighted that vaping is a valuable tool in tobacco harm reduction.
“45,000 Canadians die each year from smoking. Vaping is widely recognized as less harmful than smoking. Campaigns like these confuse smokers and discourage harm reduction. “
The Canadian AVD appears to have been started by a high school student with the backing of Health Canada.
As part of the campaign, students were asked to wear yellow and black – the anti-vaping colours chosen by Health Canada.
There were also anti-vaping packs distributed to 20 schools across the country.
The campaign has reached estimated 30,000 students – and many adult smokers too, no doubt.
Canada has a complex relationship with vaping. The Tobacco and Vaping Products Act (TVPA) was introduced in 2018 to encourage smokers to switch to vaping while preventing youth access.
Caroline Barry is an experienced journalist across multiple sectors and hails from Clonakilty in Ireland. Her journalism focuses on CBD, medical cannabis, vaping, LGBT+ rights and culture. She is currently working on her first non-fiction book about growing up gay with ADHD in rural Ireland. Caroline is currently based in Nottingham, England with her small black cat.
