The incident of a five-year-old boy admitted to the hospital has prompted fresh calls for further restrictions for disposable nicotine devices by concerned parents. Even though the incident happened last week, the five-year-old child is still admitted to the hospital because of health concerns as his parents are waiting on his medical reports.
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A 5-year old boy in Victoria has been rushed to the hospital in an emergency after alleged vaping at school. This has led to calls made from concerned parents to place strict restrictions on smoking devices that attract children due to their fruit flavors.
The child was admitted to the hospital after ingesting the chemicals found in the disposable vape that had been brought to school by a friend.
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Reportedly, the e-cigarette belonged to one of the school kid's mothers who brought it to school to share it with his friends.
“The innocence about it is so dangerous. His friend brought it to school and told him to suck on it because it tastes like grapes,” the boy's father told the Herald Sun.
“The vape was empty by the time we picked them up from school.”
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This incident was reported a few days back but the five-year-old has since then suffered from ongoing health problems and was rushed to hospital on Friday after coughing and vomiting.
His family is now awaiting his medical reports to confirm if the child has contracted pneumonia.
The incident has further prompted fresh calls for further restrictions for the disposable nicotine devices from concerned parents.
It is estimated that more than 200,000 Aussies are now using vapes.
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Back in October, the Australian Medical Association introduced tougher laws to curb access to e-cigarettes to protect smokers and the non-smoking public, including children.
In fact, under new law vapes containing nicotine can only be legally obtained with a prescription.
AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid said that vaping is not the risk-free version of smoking many believe it to be, and poses a serious risk to younger children.
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“It is addictive, is associated with proven harms and we know that if nicotine gets into the hands of young children and is ingested, it is highly toxic and can be fatal in very small amounts,” Dr Khorshid said.
Dr Khorshid additionally said that the AMA was particularly concerned about the uptake of vaping among young people.
In 2019, nearly 2 in 3 (64%) current smokers and 1 in 5 (20%) non-smokers aged 18–24 reported having tried vapes.
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“Although the loud advocates of vaping argue they’re mostly used by people wanting to quit smoking, the data we have doesn’t support this claim. Just 43% of people who said they used vapes were regular smokers at the time they took up vaping, and the most common reason reported for trying e-cigarettes was ‘out of curiosity’.”
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