Copyright irishexaminer
Vuse is one of the largest vaping brands trying to prevent those awful cigarette companies from harming our children. Guess who owns them? British American Tobacco. It would be laughable, except for the fact that it is working. I sit with many parents in my clinic, and I hear they’re thinking about their child’s vaping habit. “Sure, at least he isn’t smoking real cigarettes.” They express that they are not thrilled about their child vaping, but also express a little bit of relief that it’s not cigarettes. The marketing around vaping is working. Because parents view vaping as a slight win. They are unaware that many of the devices kids inhale into their lungs have high levels of nicotine in them. During adolescence, the teenage brain is incredibly malleable, putting a substance into it like nicotine is particularly dangerous as it primes the brain for addiction. A recent study by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, analysing the toxicological harms of flavours in vapes found that when heated, it caused the formation of many hazardous chemicals, including 127 that are classified as “acute toxic”, 153 as “health hazards”, and 224 as “irritants”. I find myself scratching my head in disbelief that these flavours are allowed to be created in the first place for the sole purpose of appealing to a child’s palate. “Bubble gum”, “fruit loops”, and “chocolate milk”. What more does the Government need before it seriously acts against these insidious products successfully targeting our children? An age limit is one thing, but actually stopping companies from producing harmful, appealing flavours is another thing. The Taoiseach of this country took cigarettes out of public spaces. We need him to act with similar clarity and purpose on this issue. We know they are harmful. We have the studies to prove it now. A recent review by the Institute of Public Health policy team concluded that there was strong, high-quality evidence of an association between vaping and subsequent cigarette use based on longitudinal data. What was of particular interest in this study, and what parents should be very aware of, is the fact that it also found some evidence to support the association between vaping and respiratory problems, mental ill-health, and substance use. As I said, some vapes are priming our children to become addicts. Parents must change how they view vaping, and they must start to parent this behaviour, because it is harming their children. Vaping among Irish teenagers is on the increase. We must act now. Parents have to view vaping for what it is, another harmful substance their children might consume, and we need initiatives rolled out in our schools early so children understand from a young age the damage vaping does to their health. Teenagers are more interested today in their bodies than previous generations, so we must get the real facts about vaping into the schools so that they can make informed decisions about their health. We have to get ahead of these insidious companies so that we can challenge their misinformation. The Government needs to directly intervene when it comes to some of the following factors that contribute to the increase in vaping among teenagers. Attractive marketing The colour of the designs and the flavours produced to entice children to purchase the product must be legislated against. This has to happen as a matter of urgency. It is pointless to bring in an age restriction when the product you are attempting to restrict is directly designed for children. This has to end. Misinformation The Government must stop the spreading of misinformation that vapes are healthier than cigarettes. This is a significant right children have online. The right to true and accurate information. Why are we supine while this is exploited every day online? Accessibility An age ban only really works if the retailers are diligently checking the age of the consumer. I have personally seen teenagers buying vapes. Are retailers really being punished for selling to teenagers? I’d like to see the stats on that. Vaping is not a harmless alternative to cigarettes. We must challenge this dangerous misinformation spread by companies that think nothing of damaging our children’s health. Parents need to wake up to what is happening, and we need our Government to roll out early preventative programmes that inform children about the harms of vaping. We also need better pathways to socialisation, as a country, I think we are very poor on this aspect of adolescence. How do our children socialise? Has anyone in our Government actually sat down and thought about this? Shopping malls and coffee shops, is that the best we can do? We need better infrastructure so they can be active and healthy, rather than hanging around and vaping from boredom.
