A public health emergency in the UK due to the child vaping epidemic, an expert warns
Son of Lindsey Smith purchased his first vaporizer at the age of 14. He became fascinated watching YouTubers use the vapour to create “ghost puffs,” and he made the decision he wanted to give it a shot.
At first, he would sit for hours in his bedroom, practising exhalation techniques to mimic the ghostly clouds he saw on his screen in an attempt to imitate the strangers he had met online.
While he initially started using 2% nicotine watermelon-flavored vapes that he bought from an older guy at school with his £5 per week in pocket money, his buddies were using illegal devices that contained up to 12.5% nicotine, which is more than six times the permitted amount.
Smith, a 42-year-old exam developer from Cramlington, Northumberland, claimed, “He started trying stronger and stronger stuff to get a little rush.” When he once had obsessions with things like playing Minecraft, it’s now with vaping.
Smith is one of many parents in the UK who are disturbed by how vaping has subtly become more popular among kids, with little government or health authority warning of the potential for an epidemic.
Research shows a sharp increase in underage vaping over the last five years, with the percentage of 16 to 18-year-olds who say they use e-cigarettes doubling in the last year alone, according to Action on Smoking and Health. Despite it being illegal to sell the devices to those under 18, underage vaping has been on the rise.
The Observer uncovered this weekend that Elf Bar, one of the top manufacturers of disposable vapes, appeared to be breaking the law in order to advertise its products to young people on the social media platform TikTok.
Now, paediatric respiratory doctors are criticising the government for ignoring warnings about the dangers of allowing the sale of e-cigarettes in kid-friendly packaging with names like popular sweet treats like banana milkshake and jelly babies, both of which contain 2% nicotine, the highest amount permitted in the UK.
Prof. Andrew Bush, a specialist paediatric chest doctor at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals, expressed his concern that the generation of kids who are addicted to nicotine is causing us to “sleepwalk into a public health catastrophe.”
Concerns have been raised concerning the long-term health repercussions of vaping, as well as the fact that many of the items sold in the UK may be illegal, contain forbidden substances, or use extremely potent nicotine.
Smith sought to put a stop to her son’s habit after learning about it. She seized the nicotine-containing vapes and, as a compromise, let him to have nicotine-free ones, allowing him to continue practising his vapour feats without the addictive substances.
She anticipated him growing weary of it, but he soon found himself lured back to vaping. After eight months, he has experimented with Spice, a synthetic cannabinoid, and THC-containing vapes. He has also started smoking cigarettes, which he also received from classmates. As a parent, I would advise you to “just say no, put your foot down” if you were in my shoes. But it’s not that simple,” she added.
Sharon Carter, 47, is in a similar situation in Dursley, Gloucestershire, which is almost 300 miles away. When he was 11, three weeks after beginning secondary school, her son tried vaping for the first time after being “given a puff” by an older child. Later, she learned that he and his buddies had been concealing vaping supplies in a carrier bag hidden in a bush, which they would retrieve every afternoon as they made their way home from school.
He is now 12 years old and was recently discovered by a teacher smoking on a vape at the school’s entrance and attempting to use a blueberry-flavored one covertly in his bedroom. “I entered shortly after and could immediately smell it. He made an effort to disguise it as bubblegum. A specialist in exports named Carter claimed, “I searched his room and found it and reprimanded him.
After trying to stop giving him pocket money, the mother of two now picks him up inside the school instead of letting him walk home. However, her current attempts have proven fruitless. She remarked, “I’ve done everything I can, but I just feel completely useless.” I warned him, “You could be jeopardising what you love the most,” because he enjoys playing football and running. But he just shrugs.
She continued, “It appears like the producers are creating them with young people in mind. “The fragrance and flavours of vapes are so enticing, but when you smell a cigarette, it’s like ‘eurgh. It reminds me of alcopops once more.
Her worries were echoed by a father from London who requested to remain anonymous. In order to help her “calm down,” his 16-year-old daughter who suffers from asthma started vaping during her GCSEs. She is now vaping “the equivalent of two packs of cigarettes every day,” according to her father. “She remarked, “This one has a monkey on it and changes colours. They’re so ill, he declared. “Our adolescent children are really suffering from this epidemic,”
Another mom claimed that her son started vaping at the age of 14, while one of her adolescent twin sisters started at 12. “He can buy them easily from the neighbourhood store, but since it’s not tobacco, nobody seems to mind. In the meantime, a lot of kids are developing nicotine addictions, giving the cigarette industry a new source of customers, she said.
Because “they carry a fraction of the risk of smoking,” and because they believe they can significantly lower the 78,000 people who die from smoking each year in the UK, governments have long been eager to promote vaping.
Teachers, medical professionals, and trading standards regulators are getting increasingly concerned that children have too easy access to vapes. They argue that the gadgets should be used as a “quit tool” rather than a “cool tool” and are pushing for more regulations to guarantee that vapes are exclusively used as a product to help people stop smoking.
Paediatric respiratory medicine lecturer and consultant Sarah Brown said: “The medical profession was duped by the tobacco industry years ago and we are now recommending vaping. As one of my colleagues once put it, “Fool me once, shame on you. Shame on me if I am fooled twice.
Children and young people become hooked to nicotine far more quickly than adults do because of the way their brains are wired. It’s a major worry. The long-term repercussions of vaping, according to Brown, are still largely unclear.
Although e-cigarettes are thought to be a lot safer than tobacco, they could still be harmful to your health. The chance of acquiring chronic lung conditions like asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema was shown to be greatly enhanced by using e-cigarettes, according to a paper published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in December 2019.
A paper published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood in November 2018 warned there was a risk that thousands of kids would develop a nicotine addiction due to the “complacency” of government health officials in the UK. Jonathan Grigg, a professor of paediatric respiratory and environmental medicine, was one of the paper’s co-authors.
We anticipated this but were disregarded, he claimed. The course was plain to see.
The government should promote vaping to discourage youth from smoking, according to a review by former Barnardo’s CEO Javed Khan into the government’s goal to make England smoke-free by 2030, but they should also “do everything they possibly can” to do so, including by outlawing child-friendly packaging and descriptions.
According to a representative for the Department of Health and Social Care, the UK has “some of the tightest laws on vapes in place to safeguard children and young people” and is contemplating additional steps: We are clear that vaping should only be used to assist smokers in quitting; it is not appropriate for children, teenagers, or non-smokers to use vapes.
More than 50 families from all around the country contacted the Observer last week in response to a community callout to share their stories about youth vaping.
While the majority came from parents who were desperate to get their kids to stop vaping, some were more complex. One mother said that her teenage daughter appeared to have ceased self-harming after taking up vaping. Another person said that her adolescent son claimed that e-cigarettes had helped him control his anger and stress, which had previously caused a crippling medical issue. Others claimed to view vaping as “the least of the evils” and to prefer it to smoking, drinking, or drug use for their children.
All of them, however, stated that they would prefer it if their kids never used vapes.
In order to stop more kids from taking up vaping, Maria King, a 47-year-old mother of two from Eastbourne, East Sussex, thinks it is urgent to enhance regulation and enforce current advertising laws.
When he was 13 years old, her own son began vaping after seeing pals vape during the summer break and watching videos on TikTok of people “creating amusing smoke rings.” She claimed the behaviour “changed the family dynamic” and rendered him “irrational” and “agitated.” He used to go and sit in his room by himself coming from a home where we played games on Friday nights, she continued.
King, a business owner, claimed that her son, who is now 14 years old, was “extremely honest” with her regarding his usage of vapes and that she has since been able to wean him off using products with lesser strengths of nicotine.
She has created a petition urging the government to take action against businesses that, in her opinion, specifically target children. The way they appear—Slush Puppies, Skittles, and Fanta lookalikes, as an example—is not marketing to current smokers who are 18 or older, she added.
We shouldn’t have to lock up our kids, she continued. These products’ producers need to be forced to cease making them so alluring and accessible.
Ref: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jul/23/child-vaping-epidemic-risks-becoming-public-health-catastrophe-in-uk-experts-warn
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