Now kids are vaping at KINDERGARTEN, top director claims as government announces major crackdown
Vaping kids in kindergarten, a top school principal has extraordinarily claimed.
Christine Del Gallo, Deputy Chair of the New South Wales Secondary Principals Council, spoke further A current situation when she filed the claim.
“There is some evidence that primary school students are vaping up to preschoolers,” she told Ally Langdon.
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Christine Del Gallo, deputy chair of the New South Wales Secondary Principals Council, claims preschoolers are vaping
“They vape in school, they vape outside of school. They may have them in their bedroom drawers at home and vape at home.
“It has become a very serious problem exponentially and it is statewide.
“They are very, very dangerous products for our teenagers and young children.”
Ms Del Gallo claimed that research showed that up to 80 per cent of children were vaping.
She called for stricter controls on vapes entering Australia, as well as stricter action against shops selling them to minors.
Health Secretary Mark Butler announced on Monday that the sale of flavored vapes will be banned as part of a massive crackdown on e-cigarettes.
The strict laws will mean that Aussies will only be able to purchase plain vapes with a prescription from pharmacies – not convenience stores, gas stations or other outlets.
Health Minister Mark Butler announced on Monday that the sale of flavored vapes will be banned as part of a massive crackdown on e-cigarettes (file photo)
“I’m committed to eradicating this public health threat because that’s what I think it really is,” Butler said.
“They should only be available in therapeutic settings, which are essentially pharmacies.
“Only products in plain pharmaceutical-style packaging, plain products, they have no flavours. Only those products should come to Australia.”
As part of the big push, Mr Butler is also preparing to ban disposable vapes, which are single-use e-cigarettes that do not allow refilling of the liquid that is heated electronically to produce the inhaled vapour.
Currently, vapes are available at convenience stores and tobacconists, as well as online sources, and come in a bewildering variety of flavors, shapes, and designs.
The minister said e-cigarettes were initially promoted to governments and health regulators as a therapeutic tool for people to quit smoking.
But he claims that vape makers are targeting children instead to include the dangerous and addictive product.
“It wasn’t sold as a recreational product aimed at our kids, but that’s what it’s become,” he said.
‘Vapes are disguised as marker pens, as USB sticks so people can take them to school and it has a significant health impact on our youngest Australians.’
He accused producers of marketing to young people by decorating vapes with pink unicorns or giving them bubblegum flavours.
“This is a deliberate strategy by the tobacco industry to create a new generation of nicotine addicts and far from being a way out of cigarettes, as it was promoted to us, it has become a way into cigarettes for young people,” he said.