Melbourne dad of young boy who ended up in hospital weeks after vaping at school is demanding tighter restrictions on the nicotine products.
The boy’s father said a seven-year-old child from the school brought his mother’s fruit-flavoured vape to school and asked his five-year-old son to taste it.
“Another child grabbed his mum’s vape at home, brought it into the school yard and asked them to come into the bushes and suck on this, it tastes like grapes,” he told 7NEWS.
By the end of the school day, the disposable vape was empty and the boy’s parents now fear that he had been using it.
Three weeks after the incident, the five-year-old began coughing and vomiting and was rushed to Geelong hospital where he is waiting to hear if he has developed pneumonia.
He is now demanding tighter restrictions on vapes, which are often marketed with cartoons, fruit and catchy lines.
“I can’t open a Panadol bottle without some force, as you’d well know, but a child can pick up one of these devices that has nicotine in it,” he said.
The dad paid almost $3500 to have the vapes analysed in a laboratory, with the preliminary results revealing at least sixteen chemicals, including nicotine.
In Australia, nicotine vapes are only allowed to be sold with prescriptions.
The dad is worried about the marketing of the product and wants changes made asap!
Do you worry about your child vaping?
