Students Educated on Dangers of Vaping
In her blog last week, Jennifer Oaten wrote an article titled Say No to Vaping. In recognising the challenges this is providing to schools and the upward trend of vaping in teens, Azelene Williams from Perennial Health was invited to address the topic recently with our students from Years 7-12.
Azelene shared some important and shocking facts and figures about vaping. She also shared her own experiences and health challenges that have resulted. Azelene challenged our girls to do some research about vaping before being willing to say yes if offered a vape.
One Year 11 student explained that she had not been aware of how deliberately the big tobacco companies have been at targeting children and youth. This tactic becomes clearly evident with vape names, images, and flavours such as ‘Fruit Monster’ and ‘Berry Blast’ readily available.
Vaping has become part of the social norm and is constantly evident on social media, where influencers portray this as something cool to do. With so-called wellness packs being marketed to tweens and teens, of course, containing vapes.
The most concerning part of this is that we now recognise the majority of vapes contain nicotine, and young people are at risk of becoming addicted. Fruity Monster and Berry Blast are not likely to list the other concerning ingredients that have been found in vapes, such as aluminium, lead, tin, pesticides, disinfectant, and, let’s be honest, no one really knows what else.
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Author: Santa Maria College
Santa Maria College is a vibrant girls school with a growing local presence and reputation. Our Mission is to educate young Mercy women who act with courage and compassion to enrich our world. Santa Maria College is located in Attadale in Western Australia, 16 km from the Perth CBD. We offer a Catholic education for girls in Years 5 – 12 and have 1300 students, including 152 boarders.