Ministers must act to stop teens becoming addicted to vaping (2023)

Better to be honest: I've been addicted to vaping for a year. Especially those neon disposable containers called "Elf Bar" and "Lost Mary" (no, I have no idea why) - which taste and pack like candy and are clearly made to please children.

My favorite flavors were "Gummy Bear", "Blue Razz Lemonade" and my favorite "Triple Mango". Just writing this makes me nauseous. I'm a little embarrassed, but I'd better be honest. Much has been made about the teenage vaping trend sweeping the UK and the predatory tactics of candy shops selling e-cigarettes - which, like real ones, are only legally sold to people over 18 - young people.

But at the not too young age of 43, I also found myself hopelessly addicted. As the health editor at The Mail on Sunday, who has published numerous reports on vaping research, I feel like I really should have known better. But maybe that's the point.

It all started last summer. Part of my team researched how easy it was for people under 16 to buy e-cigarettes (the answer, as we all know, was very easy). So we had a dozen or so things in a drawer at work, where they lay for several months.

Research shows that the top reasons young people try to vape are "to see what it's like", "because everyone is doing it" and "to experience the flavors".

And although my youth is now a very distant memory, I can imagine it. I was curious, so I tried it. And I loved it. At first I realized that I was just wrong. But then I realized I couldn't stop.

Nicotine – the psychoactive and addictive component of tobacco and vaping – is a unique compound.

It has a slightly stimulating and depressing effect on the nervous system. Smoking or vaping means the rapid absorption of nicotine through the mouth and lungs. It enters the bloodstream and then reaches the brain.

You feel a slight buzz as dopamine, the feel-good neurotransmitter, is released, followed by a feeling of relaxation. This quickly wears off and you start craving another hit.

And boy, I couldn't wait. At work, I would always pop outside to 'join in'. I tried to keep it a secret from co-workers - paranoid about being judged - as they sneezed in the office parking lot, hoping no one would see me.

My partner, whom I told immediately, disapproved of this and tried every tactic - ridicule, blame, hard talk - to get me to stop.

I wanted to stop, really. But I just couldn't find the motivation.

I was aware of scary stories. For example, in 2019, an outbreak of vaping-related lung damage – also known as EVALI – broke out in the US, killing 65 people and hospitalizing thousands more. However, it has been particularly linked to counterfeit cannabis vaporizers adulterated with dangerous vitamin E acetate oil.

There was also a panic on social media about something called a "popcorn lung". It's a real lung scarring condition seen in factory workers exposed to diacetyl, a chemical used to flavor popcorn (hence the name). Diacetyl has been found in some vaporizers, in small amounts - not enough to cause problems - but is banned in products in the UK.

Cancer Research UK clearly states: “E-cigarettes do not popcorn your lungs. There have been no confirmed cases of popcorn in people who vape.”

Still, I don't think getting addicted to anything is a good idea. Until they find a way to recycle disposable vaporizers - which are made of plastic and metal and contain batteries - they are an environmental nightmare when thrown away.

Ironically - given that vaping can help people quit smoking - I turned to another smoking cessation aid, nicotine gum, in an attempt to wean myself off vaporizers. That didn't work either.

But then I caught a cold and didn't feel like breathing at all for a week. It was the pure break I needed.

It's been about a month since I last vaped, except for the photos you see here.

It's just for illustration purposes - I didn't inhale as they say, and I'm pretty sure it's over.

The reason I am making this public now is because my brief love affair with vaporizers has convinced me that the government must now act to restrict its use. It's not because we've discovered some disease or terrible harm associated with vaping. There is no evidence of this, despite what you may have read elsewhere.

Scientists agree that vaping - which involves heating a nicotine-containing liquid to produce a vapor that can be inhaled - is virtually free of short-term risks. The message from the UK medical establishment is strong that anyone who smokes and is unable to stop should consider switching.

Still, no one thinks watching a new generation who never smoked start smoking - and become addicted to nicotine - is a good plan.

Not only are disposable vaporizers everywhere you look (my local post office now sells them, which seems odd), but in my experience they're also incredibly addictive.

Three years ago, Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty urged ministers to take seriously concerns about rising teenage vaping rates.

Professor Whitty told the Mail in February 2020: "The test of whether a product is aimed at children is whether it is increasingly used by children - and that will lead to action." Well, the moment has come.

Last week, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) released its latest research data on vaping trends. They found that the number of children experimenting with vaping increased by more than 50% in one year. Data shows that the number of 11- to 17-year-olds who try vaping "once or twice" has increased from 7.7% last year to 11.6%.

And - surprise, surprise - most often they bought disposable cake steamers.

ASH chief executive Deborah Arnott said the significant increase was a "red flag" that should encourage policymakers to improve regulation.

"There is potential for young people to give it a try to see what it's like to become regular users," she said. “We know that vaping is much less harmful than smoking – so if someone smokes, it is a better option. But we don't know the long-term effects, so we don't want many young people who have never smoked to start."

Measures suggested by experts include making disposable vaporizers less affordable, taxing them more and making them less attractive by checking how they are packaged, labeled and promoted.

As far as I know, these were among the many measures successfully taken to reduce smoking. See, I'm an ex-smoker.

I grew up in a time, not so long ago, when smoking was everywhere. In the 1980s, when I was a child, the damage it caused was well known - the link between smoking and lung cancer had been established decades earlier.

The bad old days of the 1940s, when cigarette advertisements claimed that smoking was healthy and "doctor recommended," are over.

But tobacco companies have come up with millions of other ways to make smoking more attractive.

Corner stores were covered with cigarette advertisements. The graphics were sleek with bold colors - Silk Cut was purple and white, Benson and Hedges was gold, and Marlborough was white and red.

They were also advertised on billboards - until 2003.

But more importantly, at least for me, adults (30% of them in the mid-90s). I also wanted to be seen as an adult. So I recorded it as soon as I could when I was 14.

So are most of my friends, and so is one in five teenagers our age. If we couldn't find a vendor willing to sell, we went to the vending machine (these were only banned in 2011).

When I was a teenager, I smoked no more than ten, maybe twenty a day. One of my first journalism jobs was at a magazine, and the office was always foggy with cigarette smoke.

But when the regulations came into force, smoking opportunities dwindled. In 2007 came the indoor ban and I had no desire to hang out in the pub with tough guys.

In 2008, when I started working at MoS, these horrible pictures of smoking-related illnesses started appearing on the packaging.

A friend was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and her consultant told her to stop. I gave up solidarity - but it wasn't difficult. Back then I was only smoking one or two a day. More importantly, he has lost the visibility he once had. somehow I forgot.

At that time, every fifth adult smoked. And measures such as prohibiting the display of cigarettes at points of sale and smoking in cars (2015), standard "simple" packaging (2016) brought the number of smokers to just 14 percent of adults.

The wide availability of smoking cessation aids such as patches and gum also helped.

About half of the adults who vape are ex-smokers, and another third are current smokers (possibly vaping to cut down on smoking). Even the NHS now recommends using them to quit smoking.

Only 8% of adult vapers "never smoked" and half of the 7.6% of 11-17 year olds who never smoked. These are the groups that concern experts the most.

I asked Professor Alan Boobis, a toxicology expert at Imperial College London who has studied the physical effects of vaping, if he thought I made the right choice to quit smoking. He cautiously replied, "I don't think anyone who has looked closely at the research has said that vaping is harmful."

Professor Boobis and his team carefully analyzed the contents of the vaporizer and discovered that while there are many different chemicals in addition to nicotine - mainly preservatives and flavorings - the levels of most of these compounds, including the most harmful ones, are "very low". and comparable to or less than the amount normally found in the air," he said.

It has been suggested that vaping may be a transitional drug, as some research suggests teens who vape experience more cannabis use and other risky behaviors.

But it is an association. Experts say it's just as likely that young adventurous people often choose to vape (and do it better than smoking).

The concern that vaping will lead to smoking is not supported by the evidence: smoking rates are declining.

Nicotine itself has not been found to be harmful, even with long-term use. "Drug regulators monitor nicotine replacement products and say the risk is very low," said Professor Boobis.

Studies of the lungs of people who vape have also so far revealed nothing of concern.

“But because vaping is relatively new, we don't have data on decades of exposure. We know that some of the harmful effects of cigarettes, for example on the heart and brain, take years to develop. tits.

"We don't think we'll see the same things with vaping, but we're not sure."

For this reason, he says he would "play it safe" and try to dissuade young people - or slightly older people like me - from getting involved.

Speaking to the Medical Minefield podcast this week, Respiratory Specialist Professor John Britton said: "When you vape, you're getting something into your lungs that's probably not a smart move." Some may develop lung or heart problems later in life as a result of vaping, although the extent of this effect is very small.

"So compared to smoking, vaping is much less harmful - but compared to not vaping there are more risks."

It is enough for me.

Of course, if vaping keeps young people from smoking, great.

But now it's like the Wild West out there. It makes no sense to put colored and flavored vaporizers in candy stores, except to encourage kids to buy them and get addicted (like me).

If action is taken, it should be carefully considered. Studies show that up to half of people believe that smoking and vaping cause similar harm. Experts say that if vaping comes with health warnings or cigarettes are packaged simply, these misconceptions may persist or deepen.

But making disposable vapes a little more expensive (a shop near me sells a brand that costs just £2 a vape) will likely make it a lot less appealing to kids.

As someone who has ended the massive consumption of tobacco but managed to quit smoking, I often feel lucky. Up to two-thirds of long-term smokers slowly die from terrible diseases such as lung cancer.

It is often said that if you quit smoking before the age of 30, you will not develop these problems any more than a non-smoker.

Well, fingers crossed.

Vaping was fun while it lasted. But no matter how small the risk is, I don't want to take it.

I don't believe in childcare and we all make choices in life, but it amazes me that public health legislators have taken action to reduce tobacco use for so long. We will not let history repeat itself.