Respiratory medicine experts have warned of the urgent need for legislation to ban disposable vapes, as it can have significant long-term health risks for children and young people whose brains and bodies are still developing.
In a position paper, the Faculty of Paediatrics at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) have cautioned that the use of vapes among young adults and teenagers is increasing at an alarming rate and evidence shows that those who vape are very likely to move on to smoking traditional cigarettes.
Professor Des Cox, a consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine who represents the faculty of paediatrics at the RCPI, said the concern is around the liquid that is used in vapes as it contains nicotine.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said that it is known that nicotine contains harmful particles, and in children and young people, this can seriously affect their brains that are still developing.
He said that disposable vapes are the method of choice for young people which is why the RCPI is calling for the ban to be imposed.
He said: "The concern among pediatricians is the e-liquid. And so, when you inhale what's in the liquid is mainly nicotine, but there's also flavourings and other products that are not good for growing lungs.
"And also nicotine, we know now that for the developing brain it has some negative impacts as well.
"Really children and adolescents and young adults up until the age of 25, their brains and their lungs are still developing.
"So we are significantly concerned that children and adolescents, they're doing themselves damage in the long run."
Speaking on RTÉ's Six One News, Professor Louise Kyne, Dean of the Faculty of Paediatrics at the RCPI said there is a two-to-five-fold increased risk of people moving onto smoking if they start vaping, as compared to those who never vaped before.
"They are also neurotoxic in the sense that we know from research that they are associated with mood disturbances, mental health issues, and it can lead to other addictions," she said.
Professor Kyne said while there are vapes without nicotine available, most children do not differentiate, as they are more concerned with the colours and flavours.
"We know these vapes have toxins in them, that are associated with heart and lung problems, and you have got a digital media marketing that really is very powerful, and it is disproportionately affecting the younger groups," she said.
"The research is showing that the numbers are just going up and up and up of those who use disposable vapes.
"These have only come in in the last ten, 15 years really, we do not have the research to say the long-term effects, but we know it is nicotine.
"We know that they can affect the lungs, we know that the children can come in coughing, wheezing, there may be exacerbation of asthma, so we know those are the symptoms that they come in with.
"We definitely need to certainly ban the disposable vapes, ban the flavouring, we need tighter legislation and marketing, we need plain packaging certainly highlighting the risks, and we need education."
Vaping a 'whole new problem' - Cox
Professor Cox said that "chronic exposure to nicotine in the developing brain can lead to cognitive defects [and] also causes an addiction".
He said: "We now have a new generation of children and adolescents addicted to vapes, which is a whole new problem that we haven't really thought of before.
"And then the second issue is that if you expose the lungs and the heart to vapes at a young age, it's very likely you will develop health problems. So cardiovascular and lung problems down the track.
"Now obviously we're only ten years into this, so we're probably not going to see the effects for a number of years to come.
"But even the experimental research that we would see now does indicate that people who chronically vape are at risk of developing these problems."
He added: "Again, we're not saying that vapes are more harmful than tobacco. They are less harmful.
"But there's a perception out there that, especially with teenagers, that they're not harmful, that they're just a bit of flavour and a bit of colour and we're trying to get rid of that perception that they're harmless."
Market share increase
There is also concern about disposable vapes as they are now the product of choice for teenagers, with data from the UK last year showing that the market share has seen a nine-fold increase in teenagers using them, Prof Cox said.
Prof Cox warned that planned legislation will not cover disposable vapes and the RCPI has now called for an outright ban.
He said: "We need a ban on disposable vapes. We need restrictions on flavouring and also restrictions on advertising and marketing because the problem is that they're marketing these products to children and adolescents."
Ban on sale of disposable vapes 'would be disproportionate response'
The trade association, Vape Business Ireland, said that a ban on the sale of disposable vapes would be a disproportionate policy response that could jeopardise the Tobacco Free Ireland targets to reduce smoking rates.
It added that an outright ban on disposable vapes risks driving customers to the illicit market.
VBI said it would also undermine the ability of licenced retailers to sell a consumer product.
The organisation said it supports the Government's proposal to ban the sale of vapes to under 18s and hopes to see the Public Health Bill enacted as soon as possible.
It said it supports better consumer education and in the sustainability charter it pledges to engage with e-waste collectors, such as WEEE Ireland, to promote the responsible disposal and recycling of used vaping products.
Dr Garrett McGovern, a GP involved in treating addiction and member of the campaign group New Nicotine Alliance Ireland, said he would be against an outright ban on single-use vapes as a first line measure.
He said that the vast majority of people using disposable vapes are smokers.
Dr McGovern said an age restriction was needed for young people without delay.
He said that to get smoking rates down, vaping needs to be embraced and that the vast majority of people were using them for smoking cessation and that putting barriers in the way of people trying to quit would be a bad idea.
He said that if there are to be measures to reduce harm, the unintended consequences to young people, they need to be appropriate and not affect the vast majority of people who use them.
