Mother reveals moment she found 15 vapes in her daughter’s bedroom after the teenager admitted she’s ‘addicted’ – but her GP said there’s ‘no alternative’
- Leanne McGuire, from Scotland, said her teenager has confessed to vaping
- Read more: Rishi Sunak declares war on UK’s kid vaping epidemic
A mother has revealed the moment she found 15 vapes in her daughter’s bedroom – after the teenager admitted she is ‘addicted’ to the product.
Leanne McGuire, from Glasgow, Scotland, appeared on Woman’s Hour last week, as she said she was stunned to learn of her 15-year-old’s addiction to vaping.
She said the brightly coloured vapes could easily be mistaken by parents as ‘highlighters’, saying the disposable products are ‘easy’ for children ‘to conceal’.
She explained: ‘I found over 15 hidden in her room, because they are so small they can be easily concealed.’
Meanwhile Leanne also revealed how doctors appeared unable to offer any advice on how to handle her daughter’s addiction, telling her there were ‘no alternatives’ to the e-cigarettes.
Leanne McGuire, from Scotland, has revealed the moment she found 15 vapes in her daughter’s bedroom – after the teenager admitted she is ‘addicted’ to the product
Appearing on Woman’s Hour, Leanne said: ‘I was quite surprised when I caught her out. It was clearly being hidden.
‘Thankfully I was in a fortunate position where I knew what these disposable vapes looked like, I knew and I found out.
‘They look like highlighters and if you saw them at your child’s desk at home, you would think they were a highlighter.
‘The disposable ones are so easy to conceal. When I did search my daughter’s room after finding this out and having a chat with her, she said she was addicted.
‘So I was quite taken aback when we found out she was vaping and this is where we’re trying to campaign for more education for children and parents.
‘My daughter told me, one, there’s no nicotine in them – I nearly fell off my chair when she said that.
‘Then two, she turned round and said she was addicted. It was the habit of lifting them up and sucking on them, and she said she felt it helped ease her signs of anxiety.
‘Straight away that was really concerning to me.’
‘I think the reports I’ve heard through my group is that some young girls use them as an appetite suppressant, some use them to match their outfits or nail polish.
‘It’s like a bit of a trend. I don’t think we need to think this is more of an issue for girls – it’s an issue for girls and boys.
She compared the brightly coloured vapes to ‘highlighters’, saying the disposable products are ‘easy’ for children ‘to conceal’
Ministers should ban disposable vapes because they are increasingly used by children and are harmful to the environment, doctors say (stock)
Everything you need to know about e-cigarettes
How much nicotine is in an e-cigarette?
There are many different brands of e-cigarettes, containing various different nicotine levels.
The legal amount of nicotine in an e-liquid capacity in the UK is 20mg/ml equating to between 600 and 800 puffs.
The Elf Bar 600, one of Britain’s most popular vapes, is advertised as coming in nicotine strengths of 0mg, 10mg and 20mg.
How many cigarettes are ‘in’ an e-cigarette?
The Elf Bar 600 contains the equivalent to 48 cigarettes, analysts say.
It delivers 600 puffs before it needs to be thrown away, meaning, in theory, every 12.5 puffs equate to one cigarette.
Experts say for many e-cigarettes, 100 puffs equate to ten normal cigarettes.
Elf Bars are a brand of e-cigarettes often sold in snazzy colours and with child-friendly names and flavours, like blue razz lemonade and green gummy bear
Is vaping better for your health than cigarettes?
Vaping products are considered to be better than cigarettes as users are exposed to fewer toxins and at lower levels, according to the NHS.
The health service adds that vaping instead of smoking cigarettes reduces your exposure to toxins that can cause cancer, lung disease and diseases of the heart and circulation, such as strokes and heart attacks.
Public Health England, which is now defunct, published an expert independent review in 2015 concluding that e-cigarettes are around 95 per cent less harmful than cigarettes.
However vaping is not risk-free, as while levels in tobacco-products are much higher, e-cigarettes still contain harmful toxins, according to a study by researchers from the Medical University of Silesia in Poland.
And Dr Onkar Mudhar, a London dentist who posts videos on TikTok, said Elf bars can cause gum inflammation, swelling and bleeding.
He said this is because nicotine dries out your mouth and reduces saliva, causing irritation from a build-up of bacteria and food that can’t get washed away.
Nearly 350 hospitalisations due to vaping were logged in England in 2022, which are thought to be mainly down to respiratory problems, such as shortness of breath, chest pain, lung inflammation and, in severe cases, respiratory failure.
‘It’s very difficult. At the moment I am saying she has stopped, but I’m saying that with trepidation. She’s on study leave so she’s not around the peer group who are doing it.
‘We had periods where she would stop but then when she was around friends, she would do it again.’
Meanwhile Leanne said she had struggle do find necessary support to help her daughter stop the habit.
She explained: ‘On a regular visit to the GP, I did ask, “What do we do in this situation? She’s saying she’s addicted to it, how do I get her off it? What’s the alternative?”‘
‘The GP told me, there was no alternative. How do I get my child out of this viscous circle?’
Doctors this week warned ministers should ban disposable vapes because they are increasingly used by children and are harmful to the environment.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has warned that ‘youth vaping is fast becoming an epidemic’ and more must be done to tackle the crisis.
In response to the Government consultation on e-cigarettes, which closes today, the College says the devices ‘are not a risk-free product and can be just as addictive, if not more so than traditional cigarettes’.
It is calling for urgent action to protect youngsters, saying experts agree that longer-term data is needed on the effects of vaping, particularly in regard to cardiovascular disease.
‘However, since e-cigarettes have only been on sale in the UK since 2007, long-term studies don’t yet exist,’ it said.
Shock data last month revealed a record 11.6 per cent of 11-17 year olds in Britain have now tried vaping. This is up on 7.7 per cent last year and twice as high as rates seen a decade ago — before the UK’s kid vaping epidemic blew up
‘We have even less evidence on the long-term impacts of these products on young lungs, hearts and brains.
‘It took experts decades to fully understand the impact of traditional cigarettes, we cannot risk our children’s health in waiting this long again for longer-term studies.’
In May, data from Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) showed there has been a 50 per cent rise in the last year in Great Britain in the proportion of children trying vaping.
It found a rise in experimental vaping among 11 to 17-year-olds, from 7.7 per cent last year to 11.6 per cent this year.
Children were asked if they had ever tried vaping once or twice, with the proportion roughly doubling in nine years, from 5.6 per cent in 2014 to 11.6 per cent.
Disposable vapes appear to be the e-cigarette of choice among youngsters, while purchases of vapes are mostly made from corner shops.
It is illegal to sell vapes to under-18s but social media carries posts from teenagers showing vapes and discussing flavours such as pink lemonade, strawberry, banana and mango.
In its submission, the RCPCH also said the ‘serious environmental impact of disposable e-cigarettes’ must not be ignored, noting they contain an average of 0.15g of lithium.
MailOnline discovered dupe vapes mimicking Chupa Chups, Skittles, Jolly Rancher, Rubicon and Calypso (pictured), with near-identical branding to the popular sweets and drinks in other stores along Oxford Street
Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty visit a lab testing vaping products at Kent Scientific Services in West Malling, Kent, in May 2023
READ MORE: Inside Britain’s child vaping epidemic: Our horrifying investigation exposes predatory tactics of sweet shops selling e-cigs, vibrant ‘dupes’ made to resemble Skittles and Jolly Ranchers… and the kids left scarred for life
Mining of the limited resource has led to water loss, ground destabilisation, biodiversity loss, increased salinity of rivers, contaminated soil and toxic waste, it says.
Disposable e-cigarettes are difficult to recycle and often cause fires in UK waste plants.
Dr Mike McKean, vice president for policy at the RCPCH and a paediatric respiratory consultant, said: ‘Without a doubt, disposable e-cigarettes should be banned.
‘There is absolutely no reason that these cheap, readily available, brightly coloured, recreational products should be single use.
‘Youth vaping is fast becoming an epidemic among children, and I fear that if action is not taken, we will find ourselves sleepwalking into a crisis.
‘Westminster’s approach to this problem is out of step with even our closest neighbours, with countries such as Scotland, France, Germany, and Ireland all seriously considering a ban.
‘The Government in Westminster has the responsibility and capability to make a choice that will have far-reaching consequences, potentially for generations to come.’
Libby Peake, head of resource policy at Green Alliance, said disposable vapes were ‘the last thing our children and the planet need’, adding: ‘They waste resources that are critical to the green transition – like lithium needed for the batteries that power electric cars.
‘They’re extremely harmful when littered, because their batteries are a fire risk and the plastic and nicotine they contain are hazardous.
House of Candy, where a MailOnline investigation found large amounts of vapes advertised in the window, while the shop is packed with sweets
Tests on e-cigarettes confiscated from youngsters found they contained dangerous levels of lead, nickel and chromium. Some were almost 10 times above safe limits. Exposure to lead can impair brain development, while the other two metals can trigger blood clotting
Prime Candy on Oxford Street, where MailOnline found huge vape displays alongside many different types of American sweets
NHS Digital data, based on the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England survey for the year 2021, showed 30 per cent of children in Yorkshire and the Humber have used a vape
‘And recycling them will always be labour-intensive and expensive.’
Elsewhere, in its response to the consultation, Ash said there were ‘four high-impact interventions’ that ministers must urgently bring in.
They are: put a specific tax on disposable vapes of £5; prohibit branding that would appeal to children; reinstate funding for sustained anti-smoking campaigns promoting vaping as the most effective quitting aid available for adult smokers; and prohibit in-store promotion of e-cigarettes with exemptions for age-restricted, specialist vape shops.
It comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said a new Government crackdown on vape marketing will prevent the ‘unacceptable’ targeting of children and young people, with a pledge to close a loophole allowing retailers to give free samples of vapes to children in England.
The Prime Minister also used an appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain to express concern about his own daughters potentially being targeted by vape marketing.
The Government has said that there will also be a review into banning retailers selling ‘nicotine-free’ vapes to under-18s.
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