Opinion: I'd rather pick up a cigarette than risk the unknown affects of vaping

I don’t smoke, I never have and having watched my Dad die of a particularly nasty smoking-related cancer, I never will. But I’m more likely to pick up an old-fashioned cigarette than I ever would a vape.

Why? Simple. You know what you are risking with a cigarette. Vapes, on the other hand, are relatively new – they’ve only been in the UK since 2005 – and even in that short time we know of some pretty horrible side effects they can cause.

But it appears our young people are not so worried as me and have swapped the ‘fags’ for the dubious ‘street cred’ of vaping.

According to experts working in our local schools, the use of e-cigarettes is nothing short of an epidemic, with kids as young as 10 and 11 trying the fruity flavoured vapes on offer.

Some are reportedly openly laying their e-cigarettes on their desks for all to see – no hiding behind the bike sheds or the bottom of the school field for a crafty puff for this generation.

And therein lies the problem. Cigarettes are smelly, they are strong flavoured and will make you no doubt cough like crazy when you have your first puff or two and they now have gruesome images on their packets warning what the consequences of taking up the habit could have down the line. Vaping on the other hand comes in fruit flavours and colourful packaging, shamelessly it could be argued, aimed at luring in our young people, and sold openly in shops dedicated to the habit.

According to Paige Furnell, a healthy schools officer and smoke practitioner who works for the Healthy Schools Cambridgeshire and Peterborough initiative, vapes are scarily considered ‘safe’ because of the fruit flavours, and parents often are less concerned than you might expect if they catch their child having a crafty puff on an e-cigarette.

No doubt thankful it is ‘just vaping’, not smoking or drugs that their child is trying.

But if after less than 20 years we know vaping causes major lung problems such as COPD and bronchitis as well as gum disease and other illnesses, imagine what problems might be lurking a few years further on.

It took decades to recognise the dangers of cigarettes and even longer to actively work to discourage the habit.

Vapes contain 60 known cancer causing chemicals – I’d say that’s frightening, as we really don’t know the long term affects these fruity liquids are going to have.

And that’s why the work being done to educate our children is so important and why there should be proper consideration given to the packaging and easy, open availability of these not so ‘safe’ alternatives to cigarettes...

* Pupils at the Neale-Wade Academy in March appear to have staged nothing short of a ‘dirty’ protest about the use of the school’s toilets.

No-one would disagree easy access to a loo is a fundamental right. But it is also a fundamental right that teachers and fellow students should be able to go about their school day without being covered in urine, milk shakes or feeling afraid of what’s happening around them.

If the toilets are closed for a large part of the school day, then there has to be a reason for that, and in this case it appears our old friend vandalism is partially to blame. Money is tight, schools are feeling the pinch and having to carry out expensive repairs because some pupils think it’s ‘fun’ to smash up a cubicle is no joke.

Maybe those pupils responsible for such damage should take a long hard look at themselves and those that all but rioted last week should turn their attentions to their peers and put pressure on them to stop their destructive ways. That way the toilets will no doubt be able to be open at all times of the day, because there will no longer be the worry they are going to be vandalised or improperly used. It is not just the school management’s responsibility, but the responsibility of the whole school community to police such behaviour...

* The early days of Covid now seem a distant memory (thank goodness) but for many they left a lasting legacy of grief as their loved ones contracted the disease and died in our care homes.

It now appears they may not have suffered such a fate if only our health minister at the time, Matt Hancock, had listened to and acted on the expert advice to test everyone being admitted to care homes, whether from hospital or the community.

Instead he seems to have thought he knew best and so Covid was allowed to enter the homes of our elderly and vulnerable relatives, thousands of whom paid the price for a poor decision.

I know hindsight is a marvellous thing, but when we were in lockdown and not able to meet with our family and friends for fear of spreading the disease it does seem somewhat crazy that testing of all new residents was dismissed...