Parents who vape warned their kids are in danger of ‘chemicals linked with cancer’
IF YOU’RE a parent who used to smoke, you might have turned to vaping as a safer alternative.
But scientists have warned that you could still be exposing your little ones to dangerous chemicals if you vape around them.
A study shed light on the hidden dangers of secondhand e-cigarette vapour, which children are particularly vulnerable to.
It found that kids living in households where vapes are used are unintentionally inhaling substances that could harm their developing bodies.
Children aged between four and 12 who were exposed to secondhand vapour had “significantly higher” levels of metabolites linked to the chemicals found in e-cigarette liquis.
Metabolites are a substance made or used when the body breaks down food, drugs or chemicals.
According to the researchers, these metabolites can cause inflammation in the body and lead to cellular damage that’s been linked to diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
“While the vapour from electronic cigarettes may be invisible after it disperses through the air, the effects on children are not,” researchers said.
The study was conducted by researchers at Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, and presented at the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners conference in Denver.
Lead author Jeannie Rodriguez, an associate professor at Emory’s School of Nursing, said: “Many people who smoke have switched to using e-cigarettes, thinking it’s safer for them and others nearby.
“However, there are chemicals in the liquids used in a vape that are hazardous for you and those that you care about who are exposed to the vapours you exhale.”
Researchers compared a group of children aged four to 12 whose parents vaped daily to children whose parents neither vaped or smoked.
As well as having their blood tested, the children also underwent less invasive saliva and breath tests to determine what hazardous substance they had been exposed to.
The researchers said the mabolites found in kid with vaping parents interfere with the body’s normal operations by disrupting dopamine levels and causing inflammation and oxidative stress.
Oxidative stress leads to cellular damage throughout the body and is linked to diseases including diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
Researchers shared the results of their study with parents afterwards, more than half of whom were unaware of the risk of secondhand vapour from the devices.
Eleven out of 19 had assumed that vaping around their little ones posed minor risks to them, if any.
“This alarming disconnect underscores the need for education on the subject,” researchers said in a statement.
Hard to quit
According to Prof Rodriguez, parents might be more inclined to stop vaping for good if they’re presented with “tangible evidence of harm”.
But like cigarettes, vapes can be addictive and hard to give up.
The study unveiled that some parents found in hard to stop puffing on the devices despite being aware of their health dangers.
“The addictive grip of nicotine and the belief that vaping is less harmful than traditional smoking complicate parents’ decision to stop,” according to researchers.
Prof Rodriguez advised: “If you do vape and are ready to quit, talk to your health care provider and your family and friends.
“You may need the support of those around you to be successful. Think of past attempts to quit not as failures, but as training opportunities for you to eventually successfully quit. Don’t give up.”
It’s not the first piece of research to warn of the dangers of secondhand vaping, as the pens were found to spew out unsafe levels of poisonous particulate matter within minutes.
It comes after a University College London study found that vaping may cause DNA damage similar to that inflicted by smoking tobacco.
Meanwhile, a self-described “vaping addict” revealed that her habit caused her right lung to collapse twice when she was still in her teens – and has left fearing she might not live past the age of 40.
Read more on how vaping affects your health
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- More on the measures to crack down on underage vaping and when disposables vapes will be banned
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