Vaping becoming a huge "headache" for North Yorkshire teachers
There is concern over a rise in the number of students picking up the habit
Teenagers across North Yorkshire are being told to stop bringing vapes in school - as teachers warn about the dangers of using e-cigs from such a young age.
A group of Headteachers in the Harrogate District have signed a letter to students and parents saying anyone caught with one faces suspension.
But Neil Renton who is in charge at Harrogate Grammar admits it's tricky for his staff to find them: "The way that they are being marketed and sold is that they look like pens, so they are harder to detect, there isn't necessarily the smell attached to them so it's much hard to deal with in school."
He has concerns about the unknown long term consequences of vaping: "You've got a group of young people who are really quite a remarkable generation, who've gone through the disruption to their education and I just feel as a society, are we really looking after that group of young people as effectively as we should."
Meanwhile Paediatricians have warned today that "youth vaping is fast becoming an epidemic among children" as they called on the Government to ban disposable vapes.
In response to the Government consultation on e-cigarettes the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) warned that e-cigarettes "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.
"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."