Vaping presentation educates and warn of the dangers and risks
Vaping presentation educates and warn of the dangers and risks
This week our Year 10 students had a presentation about Vaping from Mr Daniel Lowbridge, who is the Tobacco Control Officer from the Trading Standards department at Lincolnshire County Council.
As part of our PSHE programme, we were grateful for a guest speaker to come to Bourne Academy to educate our students on this topic, especially as they have first-hand experience of working with schools and seen the worrying increase of counterfeit and dangerous products on the market.
The use of electronic cigarettes and vaping devices has grown rapidly over recent years and nationally there is growing concern over their use by under 18’s. Whilst the products were initially introduced as an aid to help adult smokers ‘kick the habit’, they are being used by non-smokers and young adults who do not need the products.
As it is illegal for under 18’s to purchase and use these products (and a criminal offence for adults to supply these products to anyone under the age of 18), this means that young adults may try to obtain vaping devices by other methods and use unregulated and dangerous devices.
Although students should be aware that using vapes could cause harm on their body and nicotine is an addictive drug, there may not be aware that counterfeit and unlicensed products can contain higher levels of nicotine (sometimes over 10 times stronger) and use unregulated and unknown chemicals and ingredients.
There are also devices that are seized by Trading Standards across Lincolnshire that have been found to have electronics and batteries that pose a potential risk of leakage, explosion or creating a fire through charging.
It was certainly eye opening for staff and students to learn, so we hope that by educating our students they are aware of the dangers and will think twice before trying or use in the future.
