ABC News (Australia) published this video item, entitled “Queensland schools and parents worried ‘lolly-flavoured’ vapes on the rise among students | ABC News” – below is their description.
The growing use of e-cigarettes or ‘vaping’ among teenagers at school has parents and teachers increasingly concerned as they try to deal with the issue.
But what is vaping and how are schools trying to stop it?
With brightly coloured packaging and sweet-tasting flavours, it is no wonder many are unaware of the dangers of e-cigarettes.
E-cigarettes are battery operated devices that look similar to regular cigarettes, but are also made to look like pens and USB sticks, making them harder for teachers to detect in the classroom.
According to Queensland Health, people mistakenly think vaping is just breathing in flavoured air or that the danger of smoking is eliminated because it does not contain tobacco.
But many of the e-cigarette products being sold contain nicotine.
The Queensland Chief Health Officer’s report from 2020 shows that in 2017 16 per cent of Queensland secondary school students aged 12 to 17 had used e-cigarettes — compared with 14 per cent nationally.
Of those, about one in three had done so in the previous month.
Male students were twice as likely as female students to have tried them — 20 per cent compared to 11 per cent.
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer and state and territory chief health officers became so worried about the growing trend that they released a joint statement in 2019 expressing concerns about an emerging link between the use of e-cigarettes and lung disease.
At least six deaths in the US had been linked to vaping at the time.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said it was illegal to import e-cigarettes containing nicotine without a valid prescription from an Australian registered medical practitioner and they must only be used under the Personal Importation Scheme to help someone quit smoking.
ABC News (Australia) YouTube Channel
Got a comment? Leave your thoughts in the comments section, below. Please note comments are moderated before publication.
