Council Raises Concerns Over Number Of Young People Vaping

Alarm over the effects of vaping on young people and public health has been raised at County Hall, with one councillor saying it will one day be seen as “akin to asbestos”.

Cllr Chris Jarman said every time he drives down Carisbrooke Road he sees “very large numbers” of children vaping and referred to recent NHS research on “air leak syndrome” at this week's adult social care, public health and housing needs committee meeting.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust this week drew attention to a case study examining a 15-year-old’s hospital admission with chest pain and breathing difficulty, published by doctors in the Cureus Journal of Medical Science.

The young person admitted to using cannabis and vaping on average 500 puffs each day.

Their symptoms also included swelling to the neck and face, a high heart rate and low oxygen levels.

With a CT scan, medics diagnosed ‘air leak syndrome’ where pockets of gas or air collect in body parts such as the spinal canal, between the lungs and under the skin.

The trust said doctors believe the young person’s cannabis use and vaping is a ‘likely cause’ of internal damage to their food and/or wind pipe which led to air pockets collecting outside of their lungs.

Cllr Jarman, who leads the Empowering Islanders group, said:

“One of the issues people will be familiar with in public health has been the three recent announcements from the NHS in their research, from Hull of the air leak syndrome detection for vaping, particularly younger people with lung development.

“The Health Research Authority, part of the NHS, released details on bronchospasm conditions in young people resulting from vaping and we’ve also seen from the teaching hospitals the recent NHS paper on spinal canal problems developing from vaping.

“So, I find it increasingly alarming that every time I drive down Carisbrooke Road, I see very large numbers of Island children heading to and from school who are vaping. Very large numbers indeed.”

The representative for Totland and Colwell added the council “pay so little attention” in its paperwork to the issue.

Kate Harvey, director of public health at the Isle of Wight Council, said Cllr Jarman raised a “really good point”.

“Our local Stop Smoking services do offer support for young people who want to stop vaping,” she said.

“If you don’t vape, you shouldn’t start but as one of the quit aids on the process and the step towards becoming nicotine free, it is part of and remains part of the treatment package to support people to quit smoking.”

Cllr Debbie Andre, Alliance chair of the committee, said there was perhaps a “communications issue” and welcomed an update from Ms Harvey that a “vapes campaign is coming”.

Leader of the Conservative group Cllr Ed Blake said there has been a higher amount of “black market vapes” being accessed since recent government legislation to ban the sale and supply of single-use vapes.

“The other thing that is becoming more and more prevalent is vapes that have marijuana included in them,” he said.

“That is something schoolteachers I speak to say is an incessant problem.

“This is a situation I think down the line we’ll look at akin to asbestos or something like that.”

At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that a briefing on smoking and vaping will be brought forward for committee members.

NHS Better Health advice describes nicotine vaping as less harmful than smoking and as an effective tool for helping smokers quit the habit.

However, it describes vaping as ‘not completely harmless’, with the long-term effects still unknown and says children and non-smokers must never vape.