What is vaping? And why are the kids doing it? Is it harmful, or is it just water vapour? This was the subject of the ‘Parenting in the Modern World’ series at Castlemaine Library last Thursday evening, August 18.
Local parents, health officials, and some interested young people turned out to the informative session which featured a panel of local experts including Dhelkaya Community Health nurse Bron Grieve, Leading Senior Constable Wayne Cairnes of the Castlemaine Police and Castlemaine Secondary College Wellbeing Team member Shera Blaise.
The trio were welcomed to the library by Mount Alexander Shire Council youth development officer Shannon Lacy.
Bron opened the session explaining to those in attendance what vapes or e-cigarettes are and how they differ to traditional cigarettes, noting they are actually an aerosol not water vapour.
Leading Senior Constable Wayne Cairnes then spoke about the regulations and laws surrounding vapes and Shera Blaise gave some insights into how the issue is impacting CSC students and what the leadership team is doing to address the problem.
The takeaway messages from the night were that despite the belief of many young people vapes are not ‘safe’ and up to 96 per cent of vapes found in Australia contain nicotine. In fact, some vapes can be equal to 50 cigarettes.
The majority of vapes also contain 26 compounds harmful to humans, 10 chemicals similar to cigarettes and many actually contain pesticides and disinfectants. Some vapes have also been know to contain cannabis.
The trio said that unlike in the UK, our governments have been slow to regulate the industry and 90 per cent of vapes coming from China are unregulated meaning many vape users have no idea what they are inhaling.
The other concerning statistic is that while young people seem to have got the message that smoking is bad for your health and it is becoming more taboo, those that vape are actually three times more likely to take up smoking.
Bron urged parents to step into their child’s shoes when addressing the issue.
“We need to understand that our young people want to be socially accepted and when so many people are vaping it can be hard to say no. It’s important to open the conversation and keep coming back to it and walk alongside them on the journey,” she said.
Ms Blaise said CSC are also aiming to tackle the issue from an education standpoint.
Whilst students who are found vaping at school do receive a suspension, they are also required to undertake training modules geared to help them learn about vaping and the potential health hazards so they can make an informed decision.