AIBU to worry about vaping indoors?

[yetanotherdaytoday]

DP has recently given up smoking (outside) - great.

He's now vaping, which he does indoors.

Should I be worried about health risks with him vaping round the kids or is it OK?

DP thinks it's fine and totally different from tobacco. But I mean, they used to say cigarettes were good for the throat! He counters that by saying vapes have been properly tested. Is this true?

What do other vapers here do?

AIBU to worry about it being a risk to the kids?

He should not vape indoors. What a selfish person.

It stinks and sets a really bad example.

https://www.parents.com/kids/health/the-dangers-of-vaping-around-your-kids/#:~:text=Children%20may%20cough%2C%20wheeze%2C%20have,Judy.

That's not particularly helpful 🙄.

He always smoked outside but has got the idea from somewhere that vaping is ok.

I'm asking about the health risks specifically.

Thanks, I'll have a look.

I'm also worried that he does it all the bloody time. He didn't smoke nearly as often as vaping as he went outside to do it.

He seems to think vaping is much safer than tobacco. I suspect the safety claims are overblown.

Aside from health effects, it's normalising addictive behaviour, and probably making your house humid. Great that he's quit smoking though!

OK, so I can see ROSPA is advising that there's no evidence that vaping indoors is bad.

Of course "no evidence" of harm is not the same thing as evidence that it's safe.

My gut tells me it's an obvious thing to be cautious about and not expose the kids to, but I need to convince DP.

He was put onto vaping by the Stop Smoking clinic associated with our GP and he's got the impression from them that it's fine I think.

This study shows it's pretty common for parents (in the US) to think vaping is safe to do at home or in the car, and that smoking cessation clinics aren't passing on advice about not vaping indoors.

https://www.newswise.com/articles/study-finds-that-parents-often-permit-e-cigarette-use-in-homes-and-cars-with-children

And here's BUPA saying it's probably fine.

Goodness there's contradictory info out there!

https://www.bupa.co.uk/newsroom/ourviews/is-vaping-harmful

I'm a vaper and never smoke in the house if my kids are there. Even when they're not home or upstairs in bed, I still, generally speaking go outside, unless it is pouring down. But even then, I stand in the conservatory with the outside door open and the door to the rest of the house closed.

It's bad enough they see me having this horrible habit (I'm working on it!) never mind be blowing the vape all around them. Who knows that the long term effects of vapes (including passively) will be. I don't think they have been around anywhere near long enough to see long term effects for me to feel comfortable enough to do it around anyone who doesn't choose to vape their selves.

Vaping smells repulsive, and it pollutes the air of the people around the idiots to do it.

My DC (all students) have several friends who smoke and several friends who vape, and I am pretty liberal but they all know that I don't allow smoking or vaping inside.

I’m sure it’s safe to be exposed to 2nd hand vape - but it does seem to be a very addictive behaviour, so I’d recommend your DP setting himself some boundaries. Not vaping around the kids seems like a sensible boundary.

I wouldn't have a problem if it was when the DC were not in the room, eg. In the kitchen once they are asleep with a window open or whatever. It doesn't stink the place out and I don't think there is a risk from the vapour once it's not in the air any more, unlike cigarette smoke. But not appropriate when kids are around, breathing the vape clouds around when they are trying to eat their dinner, watch TV, do homework etc would not be Ok. I don't think it's as bad as smoking but it's not perfectly safe either. It can trigger asthma and allergies for some people.

The problem is that you don’t really ‘finish’ a vape like you do a cigarette. You end up inhaling nicotine non stop and isn’t the danger you become even more addicted? Especially with the ‘nice’ tasting ones.

Yeah, I came in earlier and he was vapingn when sitting on the sofa next to DD. That's what prompted this post tbh.

He's obviously read or heard something that's got him convinced it's safe. I need evidence to counter that.

Absolutely. DP is vaping all the bloody time now. He didn't smoke anywhere near that much.

It is far far far preferable to smoking but for me they can trigger coughing and lung irritation ( i have lung damage from my own parents smoking when i was young!) . No health professional is going to discourage people from stopping smoking and starting to vape but that doesn't mean health professionals think its ok to vape around children.
The other point is why does he think its ok to normalise addictive behaviour around his children?
We know full well that parental smoking is one of the main predictors for children starting to smoke and it will be exactly the same for vaping. Once someone gets used to inhaling stuff into their lungs they are far more likely to think its ok to inhale other things , or is he going to be happy if they start smoking weed later on!

https://www.allencarr.com/easyway-stop-vaping/safe-to-vape-around-kids/#:~:text=touched%20by%20children.-,Studies%20have%20found%20that%20the%20vape%20on%20such%20surfaces%20includes,children%20is%20to%20stop%20vaping.

The difficulty is that because vaping is, indisputably, safer than smoking, there are incentives to promote it.

It is also very, very profitable for all the vape shops that have sprung up.

It can be an effective way to wean off nicotine- it is NOT meant to be used as a “substitute” for smoking, by which I mean it should be used in decreasing doses until no vaping at all, rather than just swapping over to vaping (and increasing doses as your DH is now doing).

Aside from the tar and carcinogens in cigarette smoke, nicotine itself has serious health implications- the most prominent being that it significantly increases risk of coronary heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases. It is also a carcinogen in itself.

A major issue with vaping is that it is relatively new and so there isn’t nearly as much research about long term implications compared to smoking. However there is increasing evidence to show it causes lung damage- the extent to how long lasting this damage is is still unclear, but there are some nice visuals online that show the effects of heavy vaping for just one day and comparison to severe lung infection patients- the lungs look identical.

In reality the true danger is through first hand vaping, but breathing in second hand steam is never going to be a good thing. A major concern for me would be that children are picking up vaping at alarming rates, and smoking and vaping in children and teens is astronomically more common when the parents do so themselves as it is normalised.

In summary, a) your DH should be using vaping to cut down, not increase, and b) there is no chance in hell I’d allow my child repeated close exposure to that, due to the possible health issues but more due to the likelihood of them starting themselves.

@yetanotherdaytoday@W0tnow

Very true about never 'finishing a vape' i used vaping to quit smoking and am slowly now weaning off my vape, but this is a real problem. By only vaping outside I can limit it.

Also a friend of mine who vaped, warned me not to inside because it coats surfaces, walls etc with a sticky residue. He said he made a real mess of his place before he realised.

No idea re the health impact of second hand vapour, but i wouldnt want to do it round non smokers /vapers and certainly not children in case.

I was at an event on Saturday and was really shocked that the woman next to me was vaping throughout the talks. I felt a bit awkward, as the signs all prohibited smoking, but I still don’t think it’s socially acceptable to vape indoors. I’m sure we’ll look back on vaping in a similar (not same) way to which we now view smoking.

That's quite some claim JVC because Cancer Research don't think it causes cancer!

www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/smoking-and-cancer/is-vaping-harmful

I vape & a vape indoors, it's that element that has kept me off the cigarettes, but I have to say that if I was around kids I would go into another room!

You don't get as much nicotine from each inhale of vape which is why people tend to vape more often than they would smoke a cigarette.

It's the best thing he can do for his health OP so I would be supportive.

I have asthma and dodgy lungs from Covid and when I’ve been around vapers it takes me AGES to get over it.

Smoking I’d cough a lot around the smoker but once I left I’d be okay. With vaping it takes a couple of days for me to cough up whatever crap is in my lungs.

I guess it depends how robust and healthy you and you children are.

I've got an airpurifyer and when i smoked a vape indoors the red light turned on and numbers jumped up just like when i'm frying fatty food so it's not good at all to be smoking inside.

I've just recently stopped smoking and gone to vaping and I treat it as I would if I was smoking. I know lots of people who do vape in the house around their children. My reasons for not doing it is more to do with what message I’m sending to my children.
I wouldn’t of lit up a fag in the house with them because it’s dangerous for them to inhale the smoke so for me to vape around them it’s sending them a message that it’s ok to do it and I don’t want them thinking that if I can do it around them then they can also do it if that makes sense.