October 6th 2024.
Recent research has revealed a concerning trend among children when it comes to vaping. According to a study conducted by insurance company Zurich, one in seven children between the ages of five and 17 have been caught vaping. Even more alarming, nearly half of these children were under the age of eleven.
The study also shed light on how children are accessing vapes, with 38% admitting to buying them from friends at school. Additionally, 32% of those caught had stolen their vapes from family members, 29% had purchased them online, and 22% had used a fake ID to buy them from a shop.
One 17-year-old, Holly Bowman from Ireland, shared her own experience with vaping, admitting that she started at the young age of 12 and now deeply regrets it. "When I started vaping, it was no big deal," she said. "It was just something that everyone else did and it made me feel grown up. At no point did I think it was going to be a long-term thing. Little did I know I would become addicted so quickly. When you're 12, you don't even know what addiction is really."
Holly's mother, Nicky Bowman, who sits on the board of management at a school in Ireland, also expressed her concerns about the prevalence of vaping among young children. "It's a huge problem," she said. "We've had to increase CCTV at the school because there were hidden corners where kids would vape in between lessons. We had to introduce new toilet rules because kids as young as eleven are vaping. It's a huge concern for the school but also for me as a mum. We don't really know what the long-term impact of vaping is yet, but we know it can't be healthy."
In response to these findings, 34% of parents surveyed said they would welcome a national public awareness campaign to educate people on the dangers of vaping and how to properly dispose of single use vapes.
This issue has also caught the attention of Keir Starmer, who recently announced that he is considering banning smoking in pub gardens and other outdoor areas as part of the Labour government's efforts to improve public health. When asked about this potential ban, the Prime Minister emphasized the importance of addressing smoking-related deaths, stating, "80,000 people lose their lives every year because of smoking. That's a huge burden on the NHS, and, of course, it's a burden on the taxpayer."
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