Time kids learned the truth about vaping: New community education campaign to be rolled out in SA

Shocking reports of children falling unconscious due to overdosing on chemicals found in e-cigarettes have emerged. As this alarming trend continues, it’s time for kids to Inhale the Truth.

Shocking reports of kids as young as five caught vaping by their teachers and schools in which more than half the student cohort are smoking e-cigarettes are among the catalysts for a planned new community education campaign in South Australia.

So too, reports of children falling into unconsciousness due to overdosing on chemicals, such as formaldehyde, found in liquid used inside e-cigarettes.

To be rolled out from Monday by the state’s largest provider of alcohol and other drug education in SA secondary schools, health promotion charity Encounter Youth, the aim is to educate kids, their parents, teachers and the wider community on the hidden dangers of vaping.

Encounter Youth CEO Nigel Knowles said vaping by schoolchildren, including young kids, was increasingly commonplace.

“We have had a huge number of reports from schools on the high incidence of (vaping) occurring in their schools … the trend among the younger age groups is a little alarming,” he said.

“The youngest I am aware of … is an incident report involving a five-year-old student.”

Encounter Youth CEO says kids – and their parents – need to know the truth about vaping.

His organisation, which also runs the annual Schoolies Festival in Victor Harbor, works with schools across the public, independent and Catholic sectors.

“This year we’ve been contacted by staff at a secondary school concerned that 60 per cent of their student cohort were participating in electronic cigarette usage,” Mr Knowles said.

“(Vaping)is the biggest behavioural issue schools are now trying to manage … we’ve had schools tell us they are suspending a student a day (because of it).

Some of the artwork to be shared with SA schools.

Encounter Youth wants to educate and inform young people about the true risks of vaping.

“Most people you talk to – even parents – have no idea of the harms associated … we’ve even had reports of parents purchasing the devices for their young people, based on a false perception of safety.

“Even the terminology ‘vaping’ is misleading … it is heating up a fluid that is not water and changing that fluid into an aerosol – people are actually inhaling aerosols.

“Some (e-liquid) contain more than 200 chemicals including formaldehyde, nicotine and heavy metals … we are seeing medical presentations of young people ending up in hospital after overdosing on formaldehyde (and) young people developing nicotine addictions.”

The truth about vaping. Artwork: Terry Pontikos

The new campaign dubbed, Inhale the Truth, aims to arm young people with “the truth” about e-cigarettes.

“There is a bit of a lag in public education around this … there hasn’t yet been a major campaign from state or federal health bodies,” Mr Knowles said.

In July, SA’s Commissioner for Children and Young People Helen Connolly revealed young people themselves felt there wasn’t enough education about the dangers of vaping – two in three of the 950 teenagers surveyed by her said they had tried vaping.

Encounter Youth’s new resources will be shared with SA schools as well as on its website and through social media.

Originally published as Time kids learned the truth about vaping: New community education campaign to be rolled out in SA