Vaping: Risks, what parents need to know

Tom Reynolds’ son Harry was shocked to see other kids vaping in the toilets at high school. Experts explain how to talk to your kids about vaping without sparking rebellion.

At least one in every seven teens are vaping and the practice has become a parental nightmare linked to serious health problems including thousands of hospitalisations and multiple deaths.

Cancer Council NSW says that before speaking to teens about vaping parents need to be informed.

They may be completely unaware their teenagers are using the products which can look like pencils, highlighters, USB sticks and lip gloss.

Vaping has been linked to serious health problems.

They are even being built into the drawstrings of hoodies, Cancer Council NSW’s tobacco control spokeswoman Alecia Brooks says.

Experts at the US-based Johns Hopkins University say while vaping is less harmful than smoking traditional cigarettes it’s still not safe.

Colourful vaping products are aimed at the youth market.

Australian National University and University of Melbourne research has found that using e-cigarettes triples the chance of a non-smoker taking up cigarettes and there is “insufficient” evidence that they help smokers quit.

E-cigarettes burn liquids that contain nicotine, often at levels much higher than a tobacco product. And vaping liquids sold as nicotine-free can contain dangerous chemicals or nicotine, Quit spokeswoman Sarah White warns.

Buying and selling an e-cigarette or any liquid that contains nicotine without a doctor’s prescription is now illegal in Australia.

TALKING TO TEENS

Sydney University medical ethics and risk communication expert Dr Claire Hooker says the key to every teen conversation, including one on vaping, is to listen more than talk.

“Hold the conversation while going for a walk or a drive, where you don’t have to be looking each other in the eye,” she says.

Concerned dad Tom Reynolds with his children Harry, 13, Josie, 11 and Charlie, 7. Picture: Mark Stewart

Be careful that you don’t sound anxious, defensive or judgmental and understand teens are often really frustrated when adults simplify issues compared to their own experience of them. A conversation should explore issues such as whether vaping really is a safer way to smoke, how to understand the dangers and how to find reliable information on the issue.

Hooker says the aim of the conversation for most parents is going to be – ‘I want you to agree to me that you’ll never ever vape’.

“Instead, the goal should be – ‘I want to have a conversation that will end with my teen open to having another conversation later on’.”

REPORT IT

If your child’s friends are supplying vapes, parents should report it, perhaps first to the other parents.

“You’re modelling to your teen what an upstanding citizen will do, and an upstanding citizen is going to report activity that is illegal and against school rules.”

Parents should consider whether their own child may be bullied and how the school is likely to react.

STAY CALM

Parents who wish to confiscate their child’s vapes should do so calmly, practising compassion and non-judgment and explain their reasoning by saying: “If I find these I’m going to confiscate them because I need to keep you safe,” Hooker says. Punishing teens caught vaping may cement rebellion, she warns. “Any punishment should not be conducted with a lot of anger and negative judgments, it should be presented as a result of stepping outside parental expectations,” she says.

A TABOO TOPIC

Melbourne-based sports communicator Tom Reynolds is the father of three kids and says his 13-year-old son Harry was shocked to see other kids vaping in the toilets on his first day at high school this year.

His son’s reaction indicates that “smoking has become really verboten, taboo, yesterday’s thing, not aspirationally cool anymore,” Reynolds says.

The Melbourne dad says he was disturbed to find when he went online that you can buy a vaping starter kit for $60 and there is no way of checking the buyer’s age.

The conversation with his son would have been more difficult if he had been secretly vaping, he says.

“He actually raised it originally,” Reynolds says. He believes more information needs to be given to parents about the risks, but not in a way that advertises it to kids as an act of rebellion.

What is in vapes?

● Curtin University research has found vapes contain chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons linked to lung, bladder and gastrointestinal cancers. The same study found “dangerously high levels” of lung irritant benzaldehyde and high levels of a cinnamon flavouring known as trans-cinnamaldehyde, which the TGA has now banned.

● NSW Health reports tens of thousands of illegal e-cigarettes and liquid nicotine seized in NSW contained nicotine at fatal levels.

● Australian Department of Health reports “hazardous substances have been found in e-cigarette liquids … including formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein, which are known to cause cancer.“

What are e-cigarettes?

E-cigarettes, also known as “vapes”, are battery-operated devices that heat a liquid until it becomes an aerosol — a fine spray of chemicals that enter the body via the lungs.

The risks

● US Centre for Disease Control has linked 68 deaths and more than 2807 hospitalisations to vaping, many connected to the chemical vitamin E acetate. The CDC has classified a new illness EVALI, which stands for E-cigarette or Vaping product use-Associated Lung Injury.

● In 2019 an Australian toddler died after ingesting the nicotine liquid from its mother’s e-cigarette.

● Sydney teen Rose Hajjar posted a shock TikTok video of her in hospital with lung disease pleurisy from vapes.

● Poisons information centres in Australia have recorded more than 300 cases of nicotine poisoning and hospitalisations including seizures linked to vaping.

● Cancer Council NSW says the nicotine in vapes can harm parts of the developing teen brain that control attention, learning, mood, and impulse control.