Concerns over the impact of vaping on young people and wider public health have been raised at County Hall, with one councillor warning it could one day be viewed as “akin to asbestos”.
The issue was highlighted during yesterday’s adult social care, public health and housing needs committee meeting at Isle of Wight Council.
Cllr Chris Jarman, leader of the Empowering Islanders group and representative for Totland and Colwell, said he regularly witnesses “very large numbers” of children vaping along Carisbrooke Road as they travel to and from school.
He referenced recent NHS research, including a case study highlighted this week by Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, examining the hospital admission of a 15-year-old with chest pain and breathing difficulties.
The study, published in the Cureus Journal of Medical Science, detailed how the teenager — who admitted vaping around 500 puffs a day and using cannabis — developed symptoms including swelling to the neck and face, a high heart rate and low oxygen levels.
A CT scan led medics to diagnose ‘air leak syndrome’, a condition where pockets of gas or air collect in areas such as the spinal canal, between the lungs and beneath the skin.
The trust said doctors believe the young person’s cannabis use and vaping were a ‘likely cause’ of internal damage to the food and/or wind pipe, resulting in air collecting outside of the lungs.
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Jarman said:
“One of the issues people will be familiar with in public health has been the three recent announcements from the NHS in their research, from Hull of the air leak syndrome detection for vaping, particularly younger people with lung development.”
“The Health Research Authority, part of the NHS, released details on bronchospasm conditions in young people resulting from vaping and we’ve also seen from the teaching hospitals the recent NHS paper on spinal canal problems developing from vaping.”
“So, I find it increasingly alarming that every time I drive down Carisbrooke Road, I see very large numbers of Island children heading to and from school who are vaping. Very large numbers indeed.”
He added that the council appears to “pay so little attention” to the issue in its paperwork.
Kate Harvey, director of public health at the council, described the comments as a “really good point”.
“Our local Stop Smoking services do offer support for young people who want to stop vaping.”
“If you don’t vape, you shouldn’t start but as one of the quit aids on the process and the step towards becoming nicotine free, it is part of and remains part of the treatment package to support people to quit smoking.”
Cllr Debbie Andre, Alliance chair of the committee, suggested there may be a “communications issue” and welcomed confirmation that a “vapes campaign is coming”.
Leader of the Conservative group Cllr Ed Blake said there had been an increase in “black market vapes” following recent government legislation banning the sale and supply of single-use devices.
“The other thing that is becoming more and more prevalent is vapes that have marijuana included in them. That is something schoolteachers I speak to say is an incessant problem.”
“This is a situation I think down the line we’ll look at akin to asbestos or something like that.”
Committee members agreed that a briefing on smoking and vaping will be brought forward.
NHS Better Health guidance states that nicotine vaping is less harmful than smoking and can be an effective tool to help smokers quit. However, it also stresses that vaping is “not completely harmless”, that long-term effects remain unknown and that children and non-smokers should never vape.
I have travelled to many places around the world and
in the UK and I must say the Isle of Wight
tops the list of persons vaping even children
It is shocking, does no one police it!
You only have to walk past McDonald’s in Newport and
you will see youngsters cluttering the streets vaping.
In the good old days Bobbies on the beat would have
acted if they had seen youngsters smoking cigarettes
How times have changed.
I recently read it may be law that persons with children
in vehicles will not be allowed to Vape inside the vehicle
WHO IS GOING TO POLICE SUCH RULES
As Charles Darwin said: “let them vape”
I thought that was Marie-Antoinette ??
I can’t be bothered to read it.
Why has it not been banned and why is it considered a good alternative to giving up smoking by the NHS.
The difference between cigarettes and vapes
Numpties might smoke 3 cigarettes an hour, but
numpties are sucking on their dummies constantly.
It’s embarrassing seeing grown men and women
sucking on vapes, they have gone back to their
childhoods, buy a lollipop instead and suck that!
Some people never grow up.
Bless them
Not my lungs, not my problem
It can’t be any good for the lungs if it was we’d been born with a vape in our mouths
Very true, numpties have no idea what damage
they are doing to themselves.