Crackdown on vapes after state records shocking number of toddlers smoking
Victoria has recorded an alarming number of toddlers ingesting nicotine from vapes.
In the last year, Health Minister Mark Butler said that 50 children under four were recorded vaping, and that it is now the biggest behavioural issue in primary schools across the country.
“The Victorian poisons hotline has reported that in the last 12 months, more than 50 children under the age of four have had to be reported to the hotline because of the dangerous ingestion of nicotine,” Butler told ABC Radio.
“This is now the biggest behavioural issue in primary schools,” he added.
Health ministers across the country are looking for ways to implement greater import and enforcement controls after the use of vapes has exploded in recent years, despite current regulations.
Last year, a new rule was enforced where nicotine vapes were only available with a prescription. However a black market has emerged, and this market primarily targets children.
“This is an industry shamelessly marketing, not just to teenagers but to young children. When you look at these things, pink unicorns and bubblegum flavours aren’t marketed to adults,” Butler said.
The Health Minister also added that the multi-million dollar industry is threatening to undo all the hard work dedicated to phase out smoking.
“This is an industry that is trying to create a new generation of nicotine addicts so they get around all of the hard work our country and other countries have done over recent decades to stamp out smoking,” he said.
Butler used the example of a “very young” child who had been found with an “insidious” vape in her pencil case, in an attempt to disguise it as a highlighter.
Earlier this month footage of an 11-month-old baby boy smoking a vape went viral, when the distressed child was seen struggling for air as his teenage mother laughed at him.
Butler said that when it comes to cracking down on the industry, “all options were on the table,” including better import and sales control.
Butler refuses to normalise e-cigarettes, something that has been proposed by David Littleproud, the leader of the Nationals party.
Butler said: “We can’t just say oh, well, it’s all too hard, let’s just normalise it because we know why these products exist”.
“These products are pushed so hard by the tobacco industry because they want to create a pathway back to cigarettes.”
Butler also cited research that showed that those who vape are three times as likely to take up cigarettes.
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