"Shocking" number of young people vaping in North Yorkshire
Public health officials say the latest data is very concerning
Public Health officials say the number of young people vaping in North Yorkshire is "shocking".
A recent survey suggest more than one in three of children aged 13 to 15 years old had at least tried vaping, while nine per cent said they used them regularly.
Dr Gill Kelly is the Public Health consultant for children and young people at North Yorkshire Council: "It's that habit of nicotine inhaling for a lifetime and ultimately we are talking about inhaling poisons, so over 1 in 10 children and young people, by the time they get to 17 are actually regularly inhaling poison."
She is also raising concerns about that vapes are being packaged up to appeal to young people: "The displays around sweets and the displays around vapes, there is almost very little difference, and you'd be really hard pushed, from a distance to tell the difference between the sweets and the vapes, so they are very positively marketed."
"Over 1 in 10 children, by the time they are 17, are regularly inhaling poison"
Some experts have called for disposable vapes to be banned, but Dr Kelly tells us that would be tricky: "It's going to be very very difficult, once the cat is out the bag to suddenly turn around and say well we're going to ban something, once it's been legal. But it's certainly something that needs to be considered from a central Government point of view."
North Yorkshire Council's annual health and wellbeing survey to which more than 17,000 pupils responded concluded more than one in three of children aged 13 to 15 years old had at least tried vaping, while nine per cent said they used them regularly.
It found smoking of traditional cigarettes is continuing to decrease and the use of illegal drugs remained low, but some children were starting to vape while still at primary school.
The study also found some five per cent of ten and 11-year-olds pupils responded that they had at least tried vaping.