Teachers and parents are told to be on lookout for Chinese vapes that are disguised as HIGHLIGHTER pens and contain as much nicotine as 50 cigarettes
Teachers and parents are warned to look out for new ‘High Light’ Chinese vapes designed to resemble highlighters.
The vapes are packaged in bright neon colors that resemble typical pencil case items and come in 20 kid-friendly flavors, such as blueberry ice cream, mango, and strawberry banana.
But they contain nicotine, and it is inhaled through the lungs when the vapors are used, which can cause damage the lungs and brains of children, and cause nicotine addiction, lung damage, gum disease and oral cancer.
The highlighter vapes contain 50 milligrams of nicotine, meaning one cartridge is equivalent to the nicotine in 50 cigarettes. It is twice as much as is legal in most EU countries.
Teachers are fighting back against the school vape epidemic as the new semester begins in September.
Previous research has shown that the average teen vaper in America starts at age 13, which has dropped since 2014. 2.5 million high school or high school students
The vaporizers are packaged in bright neon colors that look like a typical pencil case item and come in 20 kid-friendly flavours, such as blueberry ice cream, mango and strawberry banana
Users suck at the pen tip of the vape. The highlighter design makes it easy for kids to hide in their pencil case at school
More than 2.5 million American children use e-cigarettes – half a million more than last year and a reversal of the downward trend of recent years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 2.55 million Americans in middle or high school admit to using the device in the past 30 days. It’s a jump of 500,000, or 24 percent, from 2021. It’s the first increase since the CDC began collecting annual data in 2019.
The vapes are made by Shenzhen Amdecig Technology, based in Shenzhen, China.
The company’s website claims the devices are “not for minors,” but the packaging and flavors are aimed at a younger audience.
Minou Jones, chairman of the Detroit Wayne Oakland Tobacco-Free Coalition, shared this Fox 2: ‘Young people hide the use of these products in schools and from their parents, which makes it very dangerous.’
Disposable vapes seem to be the e-cigarette of choice among young people, with most buying them from bodegas.
It is illegal in the US to sell vape to anyone under the age of 21, but many minors can still get their hands on them.
“Because our work isn’t hard enough,” Missouri English teacher Dawn Finley wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). “These are vape pens, not highlighters.”
Stefan Bjes, a patrol sergeant who has served with the Chicago Police Department for more than 19 years and previously served as a school employee, told Fox news the fumes are pouring in from China and are completely unregulated.
“Because they are not regulated, they can contain hazardous substances that can cause long-term harm to users.”
The officer added, “There is no way of knowing their nicotine levels or what else is in them.
“We know that the Chinese manufacturers of these illegal disposable vapes also produce and sell to the United States.”
He strongly advised parents to explain the dangers of fumes to their children and that teachers in schools be wary of disguised fumes.
Early studies warning of its harmful effects were initially dismissed as outliers, or discarded because the disinformation spread by the tobacco industry was suddenly threatened by the advent of smokeless nicotine products.
But the scientific evidence pointing to their harmful effects has been accumulating, showing that they do nearly or as much damage as traditional cigarettes.
CDC figures claim that at least 2.6 million American children are addicted to e-cigarettes, reversing the downward trend of recent years.
The report found that 2.55 million high school students had used the device in the past 30 days.
That means a jump of 500,000, or 24 percent, compared to 2021. It is the first increase since 2019.
Super-strength disposable devices – such as Elf bars – were the most commonly used type of device (55 percent).
The vast majority of children (85 percent) had used flavored e-cigarettes, which federal regulators have cracked down on in recent years over concerns that they are deliberately marketing themselves to children.