What is attracting our kids and youngsters (8-17) to smoke electric vape? It seems it becomes a new age trend and went viral and to some extent a group exercise with pride for them. Why this is easily available for the kids and local shops selling it to them? What are E-cigarettes?
- E-cigarettes are electronic devices that heat a liquid and produce an aerosol, or mix of small particles in the air.
- E-cigarettes come in many shapes and sizes. Most have a battery, a heating element, and a place to hold a liquid.
- Some e-cigarettes look like regular cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. Some look like USB flash drives, pens, and other everyday items. Larger devices such as tank systems, or “mods,” do not look like other tobacco products.
- E-cigarettes are known by many different names. They are sometimes called “e-cigs,” “e-hookahs,” “mods,” “vape pens,” “vapes,” “tank systems,” and “electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).”
- Using an e-cigarette is sometimes called “vaping.
In the last decade, widespread use of E-cigarettes (EC) has occurred all over the world. EC are electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) composed of a battery-powered heating element that aerosolizes a liquid solution comprising nicotine, propylene glycol (PG), and vegetable glycerin (VG) as the main components. PG, VG, glycerol, and a variety of flavours are the principal components of vaping fluids. The heterogeneity of vaping fluid composition results in a large variety of nicotine concentrations in liquids in different brands and in the choices made by users.
Kids are vaping in public buses, and in public places openly. I even heard some parents are forced to buy it for their kids!! ‘Just to give it a try’ is still the most common reason given by never smokers for using an e-cigarette (65%). For young smokers, the most common reason for using an e-cigarette was ‘because I like the flavours’ (21%) followed by ‘I enjoy the experience’ (18%) then ‘just to give it a try’ (15%), but they also said ‘because I’m trying to quit smoking’ (11%) or ‘I use them instead of smoking’ (9%). Fruit flavours remain the most popular (57%) ( Source- Ash.org.uk)
The annual YouGov youth survey for ASH carried out in March and published today shows current vaping among children 11-17 up from 4% in 2020 to 7% in 2022. The proportion of children who admit ever having tried vaping has also risen from 14% in 2020 to 16% in 2022.
Department of Health and Social care UK guidelines says –
It is illegal:
for retailers to sell electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) or e-liquids to someone under 18
for adults to buy (or try to buy) tobacco products or e-cigarettes for someone under 18
to smoke in private vehicles that are carrying someone under 18.
For the first time this year, the survey asked about awareness of the promotion of e-cigarettes. Over half (56%) of 11-17-year-olds reported being aware of e-cigarette promotion, most frequently in shops, or online, with awareness highest amongst those who’d ever vaped (72%). TikTok was the most frequently cited source of online promotion (45%) followed by Instagram (31%). ( Source- Ash.org.uk)
Our next generation is going through a lot and I would urge the parents, local councils, law enforcement and us to look into it as it will have far-reaching consequences going forward. Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine. Nicotine is highly addictive and can harm adolescent brain development, which continues into the early to mid-20s.
Help and Support:
Please report it to the local authorities if any shops sell it to the children, or the parents or the youth organisations. If we do not take the necessary steps this will harm the next generation’s wellbeing and also our health and care system. I have put some help and support information for parents and children below-
ASH guidance on developing school policies on vaping -https://ash.org.uk/uploads/ASH-guidance-for-school-vaping-policies.pdf
NHS guidelines for Young people and vaping
-https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/quit-smoking/vaping-to-quit-smoking/#young-people:~:text=nicotine%20is%20swallowed-,Young%20people%20and%20vaping,-While%20vaping%20can
9 Ways to Tell if Your Child is Vaping-https://forpersist.com/9-ways-to-tell-if-your-child-is-vaping/
Free help for teenagers to quit vaping-https://www.york.gov.uk/news/article/1084/free-help-for-teenagers-to-quit-vaping
Hope you find this blog helpful. Please write to me if you like my blog at abirking1988@gmail.com. MD M Hamid
