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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

More should be done to stop teenagers vaping?

21 replies

TeaCake5 · 21/02/2017 11:50

This really. We went for a walk through a local national trust place yesterday and I saw several group of younger teenagers with e-cigs.

Are unscrupulous shops selling to anyone?

Do we really want a generation of teenagers puffing on watermelon e-cigs?

OP posts:

SumThucker · 21/02/2017 12:06

My 12 year old has asked for one, she says they "look good"

BeyondUnderthinking · 21/02/2017 12:21

I think that on the grand list of things teenagers do that they shouldn't, this one is quite low down in priority

Original poster

TeaCake5 · 21/02/2017 12:24

So you would be happy for your teenager to be vaping then?

OP posts:

MiaMoo95 · 21/02/2017 12:27

I lived close to a high school and the stench of cigs and weed was disgusting. Then e-cigs came around and it all went. It's better for their health and if we take it off them then I'm sure they'll just go back to the real thing.

pullingmyhairout1 · 21/02/2017 12:29

My 15 year old ecigs non nicotine vape. Better that than real cig's or drug's

TeenageCentaurMortificado · 21/02/2017 12:30

There's plenty of vape juice available that has zero nicotine. It's all about the flavours. In the scheme of things, way less harmful than lots of things.

However if my 11 yr old announced he wanted one I'd poke him in the eye

not really pearl clutcher disclaimer

DearMrDilkington · 21/02/2017 12:31

Why are they using ecigs.

Maudlinmaud · 21/02/2017 12:32

It's banned in local schools here. I had a look at vaping and can see why it appeals to teens, there are so many flavours.

harderandharder2breathe · 21/02/2017 12:33

It's illegal to sell to under 18s but for as long as there have been teenagers they have been doing things they're not supposed to. It was illegal for them to smoke when I was at school but plenty still did

I do personally hate vaping and that it is socially more acceptable so more appealing to young people. But it's still better than smoking

MatildaTheCat · 21/02/2017 12:33

A friend of a friend has recently had a serious house fire. The investigating officer found it had been caused by an ecigarette left lying on the floor by a teenage visitor.

They've not found the culprit but obviously he didn't intend to start a fire. This is apparently not at all uncommon. Beware.

Sirzy · 21/02/2017 12:38

I think the problem is all the weird and whacky flavours you can get - no adult is going to want to "vape" bubblegum flavour are they? Things like that are very much aimed at youngsters really.

I have no issue with vaping I know people who have given up smoking with its use but do find the variety of flavours odd!

PencilsInSpace · 21/02/2017 12:43

The evidence shows that, while teens might be experimenting a bit with ecigs, they are not getting addicted to them. This is from Public Health England's big 2015 report:

Regular use of EC among youth is rare with around 2% using at least monthly and 0.5% weekly. A minority of British youth report having tried EC (national estimates suggest around 12%). Whilst there was some experimentation with EC among never smokers, nearly all those using EC regularly were cigarette smokers.

Meanwhile, around 207,000 children start smoking each year and between 1/2 and 1/3 will become regular smokers within a couple of years (ASH's figures - scroll down for the Young People and Smoking factsheet).

theshitcollector · 21/02/2017 12:51

I know adults who have been smokers for years and have not managed to totally give up but have managed to switch to vaping which I think is better for them and those around them, so I'm not entirely anti-vaping.

What concerns me is that the content of this stuff is pretty much untested so even nicotene free vape could carry health risks- in very simplistic terms I'm not convinced that inhaling concentrated breaths of anything other than fresh air can be without risk as this is not what out lungs are designed to deal with. Yet advertisers are allowed to market vaping not just as an aid to stopping smoking but as something that's cool to do anyway. Even if the door of the shop says this stuff is for over 18s only all the adverts/shop designs/packaging/flavours etc seem designed to appeal to teens.

Original poster

TeaCake5 · 21/02/2017 12:53

Always seems strange when people say their "hobby" is vaping.

OP posts:

pullingmyhairout1 · 21/02/2017 12:55

My partner uses one with the bubblegum flavour heisabigkidthough and one of his blew up in his face. Thankfully he heard it pop first and moved it far enough not to hurt him.

PencilsInSpace · 21/02/2017 12:56

Adults absolutely do like bubblegum flavour, along with fruit flavours, custards ... Whenever it's been studied (here is one example), the variety of flavours has been shown to be a very important factor for smokers successfully switching to vaping and then staying off the fags.

PencilsInSpace · 21/02/2017 13:03

the content of this stuff is pretty much untested

Rubbish.

I'm not convinced that inhaling concentrated breaths of anything other than fresh air can be without risk

If never-smokers were turning to vaping in anything other than miniscule numbers you'd maybe have a point. People who vape are almost exclusively ex-smokers or current smokers who are cutting down / preparing to quit. 'Fresh air' doesn't come into it.

alltouchedout · 21/02/2017 13:05

I started smoking (cigarettes, not vapes. I don't think anything vape like existed in 1992) when I was 11. I would prefer none of my dc do either, but god knows if they're going to chose one, I'd rather it was vaping. It's all very well saying that vaping may be harmful- we know tobacco definitely is very, very harmful and very, very addictive. Don't risk pushing kids towards a tobacco habit by making it impossible to vape instead.

PencilsInSpace · 21/02/2017 13:11

Yet advertisers are allowed to market vaping not just as an aid to stopping smoking but as something that's cool to do anyway.

Most advertising has been made illegal since last May. Posters are still allowed but they are not allowed to advertise vaping as either a quitting aid or as something that is cool. Full rules here.

HSMMaCM · 21/02/2017 13:15

Many teenagers at DD's college are vaping, to wean themselves off the cigarettes they've been smoking since they were 12

screwthepyramids · 21/02/2017 13:15

Ah got to love the media portrayal of vaping

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