Vaping is a massive problem throughout many primary and secondary schools across Australia.  Summer, a year 8 student did some research and also spoke to the school nurse, Tammy Nancarrow about the dangers of vaping.
Underage youth decide to vape because they think it is an exciting and popular activity to partake in. However, vaping is not safe. It has harmful chemicals that can lead to lung disease, heart disease, cancer and brain damage.
Nicotine exposure during youth can harm brain development, which continues until about age 25. Vaping severely impacts on a student’s ability to learn, and can affect a young person’s memory. One concern is that vaping acts as a gateway drug as it increases the likelihood of a young
person to partake in future illicit drug use.
Vaping is the act of inhaling a vaporized liquid from an E-cigarette (a battery powered device). The liquid is a range of potentially dangerous chemicals. In majority of Victoria it is illegal to sell vapes that contain nicotine or even possess one.
Sometimes underage youth get access to vapes through their own families illegally. Families give vapes to their children because they seem to think it is a healthier alternative to smoking when in reality it is not: vapes are just like cigarettes.
There is a lot of false marketing fooling the public about the safety of vapes. One e-liquid pod can contain as much nicotine in a pack of cigarettes. Some vapes contain 100 inhalations – equivalent to 5 packs of cigarettes. Due to the easiness of vaping as opposed to cigarettes, a young person may inhale 5 packs’ worth of nicotine in a single setting. Some retailers fool you with false marketing, stating their vapes do not contain nicotine, when in reality majority of vapes contain nicotine.
Students need to be more educated and learn the risk of vaping because it can lead to addiction which can be impossible to overcome.
Tammy’s advice:
‘Take a moment and educate yourselves about how much it can harm the body. It is also harming other people around you that even if they aren’t smoking, they’re inhaling secondhand vapor. Young people and their families need to know that there are support services out there.’
For more information on vaping visit:
https://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/E-cigarettes_and_teens/
https://www.quit.org.au/articles/teenvaping/
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/e-cigarettes
