EIGHT children from a single school have been hospitalised after using e-cigarettes, according to an MP.
Dr Caroline Johnson has called for the sale of disposable vapes to be banned over health concerns.
Getty – ContributorDr Caroline Johnson is calling for a ban on the sale of disposable vapes[/caption]
Dr Johnson, who has represented Sleaford and North Hykeham since 2016, said that the group of children at a school in her constituency were rushed to hospital “over the last few months”.
The Lincolnshire MP noted that all their symptoms presented at different times and expressed worries over how easily young people were getting hold of the devices.
She added: “I was talking to a teacher from my constituency just recently who said that she has pupils in her school who are struggling to get through a double maths lesson because they need to go out and vape.
“They are vaping in their school bathrooms in between lessons.
“Some of them are struggling with a whole night’s sleep because they’re waking up desperate to have a vape, and so the degree to which some of our children are getting addicted to these things is really very concerning.”
Dr Johnson’s bill will be debated on Thursday and she plans to advocate taxing vapes, regulating their sale in a similar way to alcohol and banning disposable vapes, which she says are the “most attractive” to children.
PM Rishi Sunak met with her and was “committed” to restricting young people’s access to vapes, she added.
The Government said they will launch reviews into banning the sale of “nicotine-free” vapes to under-18s and issuing fines to shops that sell the devices to children.
Ministers also plan to close a loophole that allows sellers to give kids free samples of vapes.
Pediatric chest physician Professor Andy Bush told Sky News: “Young children are being exposed to substances of addiction, substances that are toxic and some of the toxicity is not known,” he said.
“It’s a jungle… we just do not know what is in most of these things.
“The acute use of e-cigarettes can put them in hospital, can put them in intensive care, things like lung bleeding, lung collapse and air leak, the lungs filling up with fat.”
It comes after experts issued an urgent warning over vaping after it was linked to five deaths in Britain, saying it is just the “tip of the iceberg”.
Meanwhile, one teen revealed how he took up vaping instead of cigarettes but ended up on life support with organ failure and warned others not to make his mistake.