The Parent Trap
Research from the Academic Paediatric Association highlights knowledge gaps in American parents who are vapers.
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by Dave Cross
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Academic Paediatrics is a peer-reviewed publication and the official journal of the Academic Paediatric Association. In it they published a paper titled Parental Use of Electronic Cigarettes. They claim that parents many who vape are still unaware of all of the dangers posed by eliquids to young children.
The parents filled out the survey form as they visited paediatricians’ offices. In total, 658 forms were returned between June and November 2014. Only five percent of the respondents had not heard of electronic cigarettes. 130 people had tried an ecig and 77 vaped on an on-going basis; of those 77, twenty-six people just vaped and the rest dual-fuelled as part of their smoking habit.
The numbers concerned are incredibly small but it is quite unbelievable that one third of ecig users do not use bottles with childproof caps or store their liquids in manner to prevent child access. A growing number of American juice manufacturers are now providing bottles with childproof caps. Again, one third didn’t believe that liquids posed a danger when in contact with a child’s skin – although this might come down to the very low level of nicotine they may be using, this was not expanded upon.
The APA has previously expressed an opinion that vaping may act as a gateway into smoking and therefore poses a danger to children. APA member Jane Garbutt acted as the lead researcher and author of the paper. She said: “These were largely avoidable risks but because e-cigarettes were relatively new, many people are not aware of the dangers or the steps that should be taken to protect children from them.”
Garbut urged paediatricians to question parents about their use of nicotine, especially electronic cigarettes, and provide guidance about the problems that could be caused if it is swallowed or allowed to come into contact with the child’s skin. She added a word of advice for current users: “The easiest way to lower risk was to store e-liquid out of the reach of children.”
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous vape companies to develop content for their websites.
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