Warning about teen vaping after Sydney student collapses in toilet

A Blue Mountains student was hospitalised after suffering a seizure as a result of vaping in school toilets, highlighting growing concerns about the habit among young people. Blue Mountains Grammar school administration wrote to parents to warn about the incident and to ask them to speak to their children, Nine reported. The school in its newsletter said vaping had become a growing problem among students and was seeking to educate them about the dangers. “I write to our whole community today in order to highlight the extraordinary dangers of vaping and to urge parents to discuss them with your children,” the letter to parents said. “Last week, an otherwise perfectly healthy senior student collapsed in the toilets, experienced an extended seizure and was taken to hospital by ambulance after using a vape. Medical evidence suggests that the seizure was caused by a massive dose of nicotine. “While I am profoundly grateful to say that the student has now recovered, the risk of head injury or hypoxia-induced brain damage are terrible to contemplate.” In a recent newsletter, the school said that e-cigarettes had become a problem for some students who were using the toilets to vape. It asked parents to speak to their children about how detrimental it was to their health. In another newsletter the school’s head of senior school Owen Laffin warned of “the serious threat vapes (electronic cigarettes) pose to our young people”. “While we have been aware of this issue for some time and have been taking steps to manage its impact within our School community, the degree of harm this behaviour may cause our young people has become more apparent in recent days.” The school has been contacted for comment. NSW Health has seized more than $1 million of illegal nicotine vapes since January 2022. Earlier this year, NSW launched a campaign to warn of the serious health consequences of vaping including nicotine addiction and that they can contain harmful chemicals. A NSW Population Health survey found that more than one in 10 people aged between 16 and 24 years old said they vaped in 2021 – double the rate of the year before. According to the survey, the rate of daily smokers among residents aged over 16 was 9.2 per cent in 2020, and dropped to 8.2 per cent in the space of a year. But the survey supported growing concerns young people were instead taking up e-cigarettes. “This is a worrying trend for our young people because vapes can contain many harmful chemicals and toxins, even if they are nicotine free,” NSW Health chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said. In 2019, the US Federal Drug Administration warned of reports of young people suffering seizures as a result of using e-cigarettes. That same year FDA investigated 127 cases of people suffering seizures after vaping, many of them young people. The FDA said that seizures and convulsions were a side effect of nicotine toxicity.