Sydney: Teens are using mini nicotine vapes in class, principal warns
These disposable mini vapes contain as much nicotine as two and a half packs of cigarettes. They come in flavours like ‘unicorn vomit’ and ‘bubblegum’. Now they’ve become the horrifying new craze among teenagers.
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Disposable e-cigarettes packed with high concentrations of nicotine have become the latest dangerous craze among schoolkids – and they’re so tiny children are vaping in class undetected.
One principal has spoken out about the use in schools of the highly addictive pods, which are brightly coloured, come in a variety flavours including ‘bubblegum’ and ‘unicorn vomit’ and are being sold in the playground for as little as $15.
Christine Del Gallo, speaking as Deputy President of the NSW Secondary Principals’ Council, said many parents would be unaware that these disposable vapes, which look like USB thumb drives and are packed with as much nicotine as two and a half packets of cigarettes.
She said the pods are small – some just 8cm long – and have little to no smell.
“They are so small, so easy to put in a pencil case,” she said.
“Students can use these little ones in class and the teacher wouldn’t detect it.
“They are the size of a thumb drive and easy to cover with your hand.”
She said the pods were horrendous because they have “enormous concentrations of nicotine in them”, were obviously being marketed at children, being sold under the counter in convenience stores or online and then sold on at a marked up price in the playground.
“Lots of adults – parents and principals – don’t know what vaping is,” she said.
“But students are certainly aware of what it is, who is doing it and how to get it.”
Health experts have also condemned disposable e-cigarettes saying little is known about what is in these battery-operated devices, many of which are manufactured and imported from China.
Professor Bruce Thompson, President of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, said the idea of children vaping was “horrifying” especially as their lungs are still developing and expanding sometimes up to the age of 23.
“The lungs are designed to breathe in normal fresh air,” he said.
“Breathing in anything else is an irritant that will create a scar which is not reversible.”
He said it could lead to an earlier and more rapid decline in lung function later in life and was potentially “catastrophic”.
Alecia Brooks, from the NSW Cancer Council said the tobacco industry was heavily invested in e-cigarettes in general and it was all about “putting their hooks into a new generation of nicotine users”.
She said smoking in Australia was at record lows.
But many young people using e-cigarettes are “not smokers yet, but it was a pathway to smoking”.
In terms of cancer concerns she said some vapes have been found to contain formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, as well as heavy metals.
Dr Jody Morgan, Associate Research Fellow at the University of Wollongong, looked at the toxicity of vaping and found there were up to 15 different flavouring molecules that can react with the other fluids, but that they “don’t know what happens when you inhale these things”.
Meanwhile, Terry Slevin, CEO of the Public Health Association of Australia, said while there was a legitimate discussion to be had as to whether vaping can help smokers quit cigarettes, health advocates were universally in agreement that nonsmokers and children should not be taking up vaping.
“With flavours like bubblegum for example, one might reasonably suspect that these products are most likely to be targeted at young people,” he said.
Mr Slevin said they were “inhaling a whole raft of chemicals and the long term effects we know nothing about”.
He said those manufacturing pre-filled nicotine pods, which are illegal in Australia, and at an “accessible price for children” was a way of creating a new market of people addicted to nicotine.
Ms Del Gallo, who is principal at a northern beaches school which does not have a problem with vaping, said she was getting anecdotal reports from other schools about children becoming “edgy, anxious and aggressive” if students are not getting their usual supply.
She said she had heard children as young as 12 and 13 were using them.
She warned that while it may start because children wanted to rebel, or “be a bit naughty” it can quickly turn into a serious nicotine addiction.
Referred to as ‘stigs’ in the playground – one northern beaches student said kids use them to “get a head spin” but some are now addicted.
Each pod provides around 250 puffs, with some children are getting through them in just one or two days.
In the National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2019, published last month, it found that between 2016 and 2019, the use of e‐cigarettes increased among smokers and non‐smokers, and across most age groups.
Ms Brook said the only way to protect children was for everyone to work together starting with reporting outlets that sell these illegal products.
She said people can report them to the Cancer Council or their local health district.
A spokesman for the Theraputic Goods Association, which falls under the protfolio of Health Minister Greg Hunt, said: “The sale of e-cigarettes containing vaporiser nicotine (nicotine in a solution or in salt or base form) is prohibited by law by each state and territory, because of public health concerns.
“As such, police may take enforcement action in those jurisdictions against anyone selling to minors.”
He pointed to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2019 released on 16 July 2020.
Although the data is not specified to be exclusively on nicotine-containing e-cigarettes, it is assumed that the overwhelming majority of vaping is of nicotine.
It showed:
- Cigarette use among non-smokers aged 18-24 rose from 5% in 2013 to 20% in 2019.
- Nearly 65% of adolescents and 39% of young adults report using e-cigarettes despite having never smoked.
- A 2-4 fold increase in “current users” in the 14-18, 18-24 and 25-29 year age groups since 2016 was noted (see Figure 2.4 from the AIHW report below)
-Although more than two thirds of e-cigarette users were smokers when they first tried an e-cigarette, nearly 1 in 4 considered themselves to be a ‘never smoker’ at the time.
- Younger users were far more likely to report being a ‘never smoker’ than older users; 39% of 18-24 year olds compared with less than 10% of people aged over 40.
“These statistics, as well as the current limited evidence regarding effectiveness of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool, support the Australian Government’s precautionary approach to e-cigarettes,” the spokesman said.
“These are also the reasons for the Australian Government’s proposed restriction on the importation of vaporiser nicotine for use in e-cigarettes, unless on prescription from a doctor. “The proposed commencement date of these changes has been extended by six months to 1 January 2021 to assist the group of people who may use e-cigarettes with nicotine as a means to end their cigarette smoking.