Allowing a child to vape or be exposed to the hazardous vapour of an e-cigarette at home could potentially be deemed a violation of child protection laws, some child health and child rights experts have warned. More public campaigns are therefore needed to raise awareness about this matter as well as the danger of vaping and second-hand vapour to the health of children and adults alike, they said.
“Vaping or cigarette smoking at home causes children to be exposed to and inhale second-hand vapour. This act could be deemed a form of domestic violence,” said Sapphasit Khumpraphan, a member of the National Child Protection Committee.
Vaping at home is a violation of the Child Protection Act 2003 and could also be interpreted as a form of domestic violence under the Domestic Violence Victims Protection Act 2007, confirmed Waraphon Phongphanitanon, an expert with the Department of Women’s Affairs and Family Development.
Prof Dr Suwanna Ruangkanchanasetr, deputy director of the Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Centre (TRC), said families should understand the child protection law and be aware of its role while seeing the need to protect their children from the danger of vaping as important.
She also urged better action from the government to protect Thailand’s children from the health hazard of vaping through stronger enforcement of the law banning the import and sale of e-cigarettes in Thailand.
Responding to video clips on social media showing parents allowing their kids to vape as they believed vaping was safe, Assoc Prof Adisak Pliponkarnpim said that was a serious misunderstanding as the vape juice contains nicotine, which is addictive.
Vaping stimulates the secretion of the “happy hormone” dopamine, which makes vapers feel relaxed in the beginning, but what is also happening is that nicotine causes blood vessels to constrict, which induces inflammation and free radicals, said Dr Adisak who is a member of the Royal College of Paediatricians of Thailand and director of National Institute for Child and Family Development (NICFD) at Mahidol University.
More importantly, in adults and children alike, vaping could lead to a serious medical condition called e-cigarette or vaping use-associated lung injury (EVALI), said Dr Adisak.
Vaping in children, in particular, could also impact the child’s development from pregnancy until 25 years of age, he said. Worse still, more studies have found that child vaping could potentially be a gateway to cigarette smoking and drug addiction in later life, he said.
“The American Heart Association has recently indicated second-hand vapour is also responsible for the higher frequency of respiratory inflammation in people exposed to the vapour produced by vapers in the same family,” he said.
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