THERE are growing concerns over the prevalence of young people vaping electronic cigarettes and the subsequent long-term health impact.
Paul Niblock from Glen Parent Youth Group in Lenadoon said there has been a dramatic increase in the number of young people vaping, but that there is little to no information available about what health impacts this could have on them.
Due to the increase in youth vaping, the Glen Community Complex on Suffolk Road hosted an information session with Cancer Focus this week – which brought home to those in attendance the health consequences that could be coming down the road.
Paul said: “It’s something that we’ve been concerned about for a very long time, particularly with young people and we’ve been looking at different research and getting different bodies to come out and do some work around this.
“The scary thing that you’ll find out about it is that there is very little information available because the research into the long-term effects on the damage vaping can do hasn’t been done.”
ON THE STREETS: Paul Niblock said concern was also raised over the number of vapes found littering the streets
Paul explained that Glen Parent Youth Group asked Cancer Focus to come out and give a talk on ‘Vaping: The Facts’ which explained how over five million disposable vapes are dumped in the UK every single day.
He said that young people in particular and non-smokers care becoming hooked on vaping devices through nicotine addiction.
“We are very concerned about disposable vapes, the single use ones and also the ones that you can fill up with liquids yourself. We’re concerned about young people putting liquid in these vapes that you wouldn’t buy in shops and comes from the black market or online. You can see all types of CBD oils which young people are using to get high and that’s becoming more the norm.
“I’ve been working here for 25 years and in 2010 we saw a massive decline in the number of young people smoking cogarettes and from about 2012-2014 we began to see a massive uptake in vaping. Smoking was on its way out and now vaping has come in and taken its place. Very few young people that come to our centre would smoke cigarrettes but a vast majority of them are vaping.
“We don’t allow it in the building so they are vaping outside. This is with young people aged 16 and over but we are also seeing kids younger than this vaping. We’re talking to them and educating them on this at the moment."
ON SALE: Disposable vapes come in sweet flavours which are appealing to young people
Paul said that he believes vaping flavours are being specifically targeted at young people.
“The flavours are things like candyfloss, strawberry bon bons, mango, cola etc. We’ve seen vapes flavoured like the sweets ‘millions’ and you wonder, who are these vapes for? Who are they aimed at?
“These are all sweet brands and flavours and you think, what adult wants to buy flavours like that? I think these big companies have forseen the decrease in the sale of cigarettes and nicotine and this is a different way for them to get around that.
“If you look at cigarette packaging these days everyone knows the dangers and there are warnings on them and pictures of diseased lungs etc but you’ll see none of that on vapes.”
Alliance East Belfast MLA @PMcReynoldsMLA has expressed significant concerns following a meeting with Belfast City Council officials to discuss the rise in the illegal sale of disposable vapes and e-cigarettes to under-18s.https://t.co/DAYYCJZdDg
— Alliance Party (@allianceparty) August 1, 2023
Paul also highlighted the pollution problem caused by vapes and the amount which are found frequently littering the streets.
“There are five million vapes dumped every week in the UK. They contain lithium, plastic and all sorts of stuff and where are they going? They’re being dumped and thrown away into the environment.”
Karen Nugent, a youth worker with Glen Parent Youth Group, said the long term health concerns were worrying.
"It is worrying that there has been no long term risk studies carried out into vaping in the EU. We know it can lead to problems such as lung disease, throat irritation and bleeding, dizziness and cardiovascular problems."
Paul and Karen said that they aim to facilitate vaping information and awareness workshops for local young people in the coming months.
