How purposely-installed vape detectors are being set off 22 TIMES a day in schools
Devices installed in schools to detect whether children are vaping are being triggered up to 22 times a day, data shows.
The VapeGuardian sensors send a phone alert to teachers when the slightest hint of vapor is detected. They have been installed in nearly 100 schools across the UK and Ireland.
The shocking figure, released by the device’s Southampton-based manufacturer, SMF Systems, comes amid the UK’s teenage vaping crisis, with nearly one in ten children now using e-cigarettes.
Simon Hassett, the software engineer behind VapeGuardian, which he claims is the first device of its kind made in the UK, said some pupils are so eager for their next ‘fix’ that they are begging teachers to put them in school to vape.
“We are unconsciously creating a new generation of nicotine addicts,” he said.
NHS Digital, which last year surveyed nearly 10,000 students aged 11 to 15 about their smoking, drug and drinking habits, found that nine per cent are currently vaping – the highest recorded rate since the survey began in 2014
Mr Hassett highlighted his concern that children are not fully aware of the contents of e-cigarettes.
The VapeGuardian sensor (pictured) is the first of its kind to be manufactured in the UK and can detect the slightest hint of vapor
The sensors detect vapor and the chemicals released from a person’s mouth after puffing on an e-cigarette.
It then immediately sends an alert – in the form of a text, email or push notification – to a designated teacher.
The message includes the exact time and location the sensor was triggered, so staff can catch those vaping in the act.
The device measures 3.7m x 3.7m and costs £260. To date, 77 have been installed in UK schools since the product launched six months ago.
Schools must purchase the sensors themselves.
Data from the devices in 77 high schools suggests they are activated 17 to 22 times per day.
The company says schools with VapeGuardian sensors are seeing this figure cut in half after a week to an average of 8-11 alerts and these numbers continue to drop consistently week after week.
Vaping has become an epidemic in UK schools, according to leading health experts such as Dr. Mike McKean, vice president of policy at the Royal College of Paediatricians and Child Health.
A report from Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) from last year found that the percentage of children aged 11 to 17 currently vaping has increased from 4 percent in 2020 to 7 percent in 2022.
In 2013, only 3 percent of kids ages 11 to 15 had ever vaped, but this rose to 8 percent in 2020 and 10 percent in 2022.
Plain packs for cigarettes and hand-rolled tobacco products were introduced in the UK in 2017.
Dr. McKean recently said that if this growth continues, almost all kids could be vaping within five years.
Mr Hassett said vaping is a problem for teachers but that he and his team were shocked to see the extent of e-cigarette use in schools.
Schools have told Mr Hassett they are increasingly concerned about the physical and mental health and safety of their vaping students.
Many teachers say that students who vape become anxious during lessons, which he attributed to the addictiveness of the high levels of nicotine in most e-cigarettes.
A teacher in Salisbury told Mr Hassett that pupils are even ‘pledging’ to be able to vape in school because they need a solution.
The sensor was designed by software engineer Simon Hassett (pictured), 36, who highlighted his concern that children are not fully aware of the contents of e-cigarettes
One in 10 high school students now uses vaping, despite uncertainty about their long-term health effects
Mr Hassett said his concerns as a father about the risks of vaping inspired him to try and tackle the growing problem.
The sensors detect vapor once it has left a person’s lungs and Mr Hassett said he was ‘extremely shocked’ at the amount of nicotine and microplastics in each puff.
Studies have shown that disposable e-cigarettes are growing in popularity, in part because they cost around £5 each and come in a wide range of colors and fruity flavours.
Mr Hassett said he and his team are ‘fully committed to supporting schools in the UK’ but stricter regulations are needed to ‘reduce the appeal of vaping’.
He said without these rules, the “popularity pandemic will continue to rise.”
Mr Hassett added: ‘We want to work with the health and education sectors to ensure that regulations go further to protect children from vaping, and to explore better guidance to support schools in reducing the problem. ‘
The father of four, from Southampton, launched the product in October 2022 under his company SMF Systems, employing a number of PHD students to discover the specific ingredients in vapes.
He could then program his device to detect these ingredients in the vapor they release.