It’s Time for Tobacco Harm Reduction Messaging on Cigarette Packaging to Help Close a Dangerous Information Gap

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Ottawa, ON, Sept. 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Canadian Vaping Association is calling on Health Canada to add tobacco harm reduction messaging to cigarette packaging and inserts, warning that widespread misinformation is leaving millions of Canadian smokers in the dark about a less harmful alternative to smoking. 

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Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in Canada, claiming approximately 46,000 lives every year. Despite this toll, many smokers continue to believe that vaping is just as dangerous as, or more dangerous than smoking combustible tobacco. 

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According to Health Canada’s Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey (CTNS) for 2022, most Canadian smokers do not correctly understand how vaping compares to smoking in terms of health risk. Among Canadians who reported smoking in the past 30 days, 32.1% said they did not know how the harm of vaping nicotine compares to smoking cigarettes, and another 29.4% believed the two were “about the same” in terms of harm. A further 17.1% believed vaping was more harmful than smoking. Only roughly 1 in 5 smokers (21.4%) accurately identified vaping as less harmful than continuing to smoke. 

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This means close to four in five Canadian smokers, an estimated 2.75 million people, do not know that switching completely to vaping is a less harmful option. This is not a small gap in public understanding. It represents millions of Canadians making decisions about their health without accurate information, at a time when tobacco related illness still claims tens of thousands of Canadian lives every year. 

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This misperception has real consequences. Smokers who wrongly believe vaping carries the same or greater risk as smoking, have little incentive to switch, even though the evidence, including Health Canada’s own public statements, points the other way. Closing this information gap, including through accurate messaging on tobacco packaging and inserts, is a practical, low-cost step that could help millions of smokers make an informed choice. 

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“This is a solvable problem,” says Sam Tam, President of the CVA. “Smokers are making decisions about their health without accurate information, and that gap is costing lives every day. Packaging and inserts are one of the few places where every smoker, in every province, will see a message directly and repeatedly.” 

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The Evidence Is Already Public, It Just Isn’t Reaching Smokers 

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Health Canada itself has stated: “If you’ve tried approved methods to quit and are still smoking, switching completely to vaping nicotine is less harmful than continuing to smoke.” 

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The CVA is proposing that these Health Canada statements, alongside information on approved Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) options, be featured directly on tobacco packaging and inserts, giving adult smokers accurate, actionable information at the moment when they need it most. 

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A Legal Vaping Market Is Already Helping Canadians Quit 

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Since the establishment of a regulated, legal vaping market in Canada, almost 2 million adult smokers have successfully transitioned away from cigarettes. While vaping is not an approved smoking cessation therapy, Health Canada reports that approximately 21% of Canadians who quit smoking in 2024 said an e-cigarette helped them stop (Delivering Results, Health Canada, January 2026).