Leitrim councillor has 'deep concerns about vaping; especially regarding young people'

The largest global review on vaping in young people also discovered that there is an increased risk of respiratory illnesses, like asthma or asthma exacerbation, and substance abuse, including drinking and marijuana use as well as pneumonia, bronchitis, lower total sperm counts, dizziness, headaches, and migraines.

Speaking to the Leitrim Observer, Cllr Enda McGloin said that he is "surprised by the amount of people that are now vaping and in one sense, it's considered less harmful than cigarettes and tobacco smoking however the truth may be that it is even more harmful and is now seen by a lot of people as a better alternative to smoking and that's the justification."

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However Cllr McGloin said that he didn't believe that this is the case and said that he "has deep concerns about it, especially in relation to young people. There are vape shops popping up in all directions and that indicates that there is a strong business for what they sell. I think the Department of Health may have to review their overall health guidance strategy and look at ways to put forward a school programme to advise young people of the consequences of vaping. The programme could be run in conjunction with the Vocational Education Committees (VECs) and Healthy Ireland too. I think if you were to do a survey in the morning, in my view, you would have people saying that vaping is better than smoking and the argument is that that may not be the case at all; that it may be worse."

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Cllr McGloin continued that he believed that education was key to battling the issue. "I think when it comes vaping versus tobacco, we need to give people the facts on that. At the moment, I just think there is a lack of information there and that needs to be addressed. There needs to be more controls; there is a very strong criteria now in how we sell tobacco products; you can't just sell them wherever you want and they're not on display; a lot of action has been done to reduce the visibility of cigarettes and they have taken action on the sale of alcohol as well however, vapes are not being controlled under the same measures. I think the government needs to do a general review. If we have regulations for tobacco and alcohol, vaping should come under the same measures."