Vaping poses serious threat to children | Letter

Warren Lenney and 15 other paediatric healthcare professionals sound the alarm over e-cigarettes and call for the urgent education of young people on their dangers

Tobacco and vaping addictions begin in childhood, not in adults (A smoking gun?, G2, 20 November). The number of UK children vaping is being grossly under-reported. US trends inevitably cross the Atlantic. In America, 30% of high school children vape, most never having smoked tobacco. With forceful UK e-cigarette marketing directed at the young, similar rates will undoubtedly occur, with potentially devastating health effects.

We cannot sit back and accept a blanket message from Public Health England that vaping is 95% less harmful than tobacco smoking because (a) nobody knows exactly what substances are in these liquids, although we do know, in direct contravention of EU regulations, they contain chemicals toxic to the lungs; (b) there is an epidemic of vaping-related chest disease and deaths in America and (c) it took over 30 years for the long-term harmful effects of tobacco to be appreciated.

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Ok9pCS