Schoolchildren in hospital as pupils ‘struggle to make it through class without vaping’

In February, Dr Caroline Johnson presented 10-minute rule Bill to ban sale of disposable vapes

The George Institute has called for a “complete ban” on e-cigarette advertising (Nick Ansell/PA) (PA Archive)

Eight children from a secondary school required hospital treatment after using electronic cigarettes, an MP said as she called for proper regulation and a ban on disposable vapes.

Conservative Dr Caroline Johnson said the children, who were all from a school in her constituency, were admitted to hospital “at different times over the last few months”.

The MP expressed deep concern about the accessibility and appeal of vaping products to youngsters as she emphasised the need to address the issue urgently.

Back in February, Dr Johnson presented a ten-minute rule Bill to ban the sale of disposable vapes and she led a Westminster Hall debate on the topic on Thursday.

Speaking to the PA news agency ahead of the debate, the Sleaford and North Hykeham MP said: “A number of children in my constituency have collapsed after vaping and my understanding from the local school is that now eight children from one school in my constituency have required hospital treatment.

“Not all at the same time, at different times over the last few months, just immediately after they had been vaping.”

I was talking to a teacher from my constituency just recently who said that she has pupils in her school who are struggling to get through a double maths lesson because they need to go out and vape

Dr Caroline Johnson

“These are secondary school aged children.”

Dr Johnson said a concerning picture also emerged regarding the growing addiction to vaping among children after talking to a teacher.

She said: “I was talking to a teacher from my constituency just recently who said that she has pupils in her school who are struggling to get through a double maths lesson because they need to go out and vape.

“They are vaping in their school bathrooms in between lessons. Some of them are struggling with a whole night’s sleep because they’re waking up desperate to have a vape, and so the degree to which some of our children are getting addicted to these things is really very concerning.”

Dr Johnson said the aim of her debate on Thursday would be to “get more pressure” on the government to do something as quickly as possible.

The Tory MP will make the case for a vape tax to “both raise revenue but most specifically to make them much less accessible to our children and young people”, and for stricter regulations around their sale “like we do for alcohol”.

On her campaign to ban disposable vapes, she told PA: “The disposable vapes are the most attractive to children. A recent report published in May show that three-quarters of children who are using vapes are using disposables.

“They are cheap, they are easily accessible. They are easy to dispose of, if you are in danger of being caught using them by an adult. They are also in pretty colours and there’s a whole range of child-friendly sort of flavours.”

Dr Johnson said that after introducing her ten-minute rule Bill, she had a meeting with prime minister Rishi Sunak, who “was very interested in the topic”, adding: “He is committed to ensuring that children don’t have access to vapes.”

In May, ministers pledged to close a loophole allowing retailers to give free samples of vapes to children in England amid concerns over the proportion of children trying e-cigarettes.

The government said there will also be a review into banning retailers selling “nicotine-free” vapes to under-18s and one into the rules on issuing fines to shops that illegally sell vapes to children.

Ministers cited NHS figures from 2021 which showed that 9 per cent of 11–15-year-olds used e-cigarettes, up from 6 per cent in 2018.

The crackdown will also see the health risks of vaping included in relationships, sex and health education lessons, as part of the ongoing Government review of the curriculum.

Dr Johnson said: “I’m hoping to get some timeframes from the debate on how quickly they expect to be able to move, but I’m hoping they will be able to get something in pretty quickly.”