Children vaping: A worrying trend

It is no longer a tragedy in the making. In the here and now, it has metamorphosized into the evil many experts have warned about. A 12-year-old girl in Thailand is fighting for her life with severe lung damage that has resulted from her vaping for the last two years. She is on the ventilator as doctors say ‘almost 100%’ of her lungs have been damaged.

Do the math. This child began vaping at the tender age of 10 and her family was unaware of her dangerous habit. She was rushed to the hospital during school hours due to shortness of breath and vomiting and it was then the family learned the horrific outcome. An 84-year-old vendor was arrested for selling vapes near the school, a modus operandi of luring children that is not restricted to this school or Thailand alone.

The silent epidemic of vaping among students is a global worry. As per several experts, it is misleading to say vaping is safer since it does not contain tobacco nor release ash, the latter a big reason why children are vaping even in schools without being noticed. In 2023, a 12-year-old British girl Sarah Griffin suffered a lung collapse after vaping since the age of 9. The teenager who first hit the headlines for this was a 17-year-old American boy who has since received a double lung transplant. It would be frivolous to look at these headlines in isolation.

While vaping is positioned as less harmful than smoking – although some doctors consider even that as a contentious statement – and also as a step in quitting smoking, in children its impact is catastrophic. The liquid used in a vape contains nicotine. In the battery-operated e-cigarette, nicotine is inhaled in a vapour by heating a liquid containing dangerous chemicals.  When consumed regularly, it leads to life-threatening issues as in the case of the girl in Thailand. There are also concerns about damage to brain development as well as addiction.

While a cigarette forces a user to step out, with vaping there are no such boundaries or constraints. A new study by the Manchester Metropolitan University concludes that electronic cigarettes are more harmful than cigarettes. 

The vaping industry defends e-cigarettes not just as a safer alternative to traditional smoking but also as a means to help adult smokers transition away from tobacco. Health experts on the contrary say it is but a hook for nicotine addiction and not just in the young. Vaping is big business today and one million people in England are reportedly vaping despite having never been regular smokers.

This market is cognisant of its young clientele. The flavours are colourful and almost childlike, enticing the unsuspecting into the web. For the gullible young, they are no less than death traps. From buttered popcorn to caramel and vanilla, the choices are endless. The unobtrusive-sounding cinnamon is considered among the most lethal, even without nicotine and WHO says there are 16,000 attractive flavours for children.

The question is also, where are the children getting the money to buy vapes, this demographic is too young to call any money its own. But washrooms in schools are a gateway to this addiction where sometimes children follow their older siblings while at other times they steal from their parents and introduce it to their peers.  

The problem is not relative, it is absolute. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC, nearly 1.6 million American students vaped in 2024, with a big majority of them, 87.6% of them, opting for the enticing flavours. New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against e-cigarette manufacturers and distributors, blaming them for the vaping crisis in the young.

Britain too is taking matters into its own hands and will investigate the long-term effects of vaping on children. Its decade-long study of the impact on health and behaviour will research children as young as eight. It is believed that a quarter of 11- to 15-year-olds in the country have vaped.

As for India, it continues to go around the system. E-cigarettes are banned nationwide, and their possessions are punishable. If you look around, however, the trade is flourishing.

The World Health Organisation has urged governments to treat e-cigarettes on par with tobacco and carry a warning of their health impact. It also flags the possibility of nicotine addiction among non-smokers, especially children and young people challenging the very basis of the debate that vaping was targeted only towards smokers. WHO says, there is an ‘alarming increase in use of e-cigarettes among children and young people, with rates exceeding adult use in many countries.’

Vapes are ubiquitous. There are shops every few meters and they are enticingly displayed on windows. Nearly ninety countries do not have a minimum age limit for buying them. In an indication of how prevalent vaping is, it doesn’t even need social media to spread the word.

The choices are narrow. For one, do not brush these conversations under the carpet or stay in denial about your child. Peer pressure is not a walk in the park. Keep conversations at home ongoing, lead by example and most importantly, be vigilant. In hindsight, the grandmother of the young Thai girl says she had noticed behavioural changes. That is the biggest clue.