Gympie mum’s concern after 14yo son caught with vape

A Gympie mother has raised concerns about the number of school children using vapes and where they are getting them from, after her teenage son told her about his classmates use.

Gympie mother Liz Pagano has raised concerns about the growing trend of underage children vaping, after rumours of a business allegedly selling vapes to minors.​

A Gympie mother has raised concerns about the growing trend of underage children vaping, after rumours of a business allegedly selling vapes to minors.

Liz Pagano said she was concerned for her 14-year-old son after he told her his classmates were vaping at school.

Ms Pagano said she later found a vape in her son’s belongings.

“I don’t know if he had any nicotine in his vape, but the one I found in his belongings had the little liquid that goes with it that had the warnings about it being carcinogenic on it,” she said.

Carcinogenic substances have the potential to cause cancer.

She said she took the vape off her son and tried to educate him on how harmful the substance was, and was concerned for his health.

Wanting a fresh start for her son, Ms Pagano enrolled him in a different high school, but she found it had thee same vaping problem.

“It’s becoming a bit of a fad now, where it’s the cool thing to do,” she said.

She said parents should talk about the issue with their kids, and do their research on the effects of vaping.

“Why would any parent want their kids to do that?”

“If they find one, maybe they could say ‘yeah, I did buy it from this shop’,” she said.

A Queensland Health spokesperson said on Wednesday it was illegal for anyone under 18 to purchase or to be sold a vape, and it was illegal for a vape to contain nicotine unless it was prescribed.

Qld Health also said children were buying vapes from overseas and picking them up in Australia.

Originally published as Gympie mum’s concern after 14yo son caught with vape