'Teen vaping crisis' drives public unease
published : 4 Nov 2022 at 13:04
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Post Reporters
A domestic tobacco control network has voiced concern about young children smoking e-cigarettes.
A member of the national tobacco product control board said there has been a spike in the number of teenagers who vape.
According to a survey on Thai people's health conducted in 2019 and 2020, 5.3% of children aged 10 to 19 years have tried vaping, and 2.9% do so regularly. Around 30% of people in this age bracket who smoke e-cigarettes are women, the study showed.
The board said more needs to be done to raise awareness of the harmful effects of vaping, which can negatively impact the brain, heart, and lungs and cause cancer.
The Thailand Youth Institute said one of the problems with vaping is that it is considered safer and more trendy than smoking regular cigarettes, especially among high school students.
A lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine at Ramathibodi Hospital said vendors currently offer more than 16,000 different flavours of vaping liquid, making it easier for children to get hooked.
She cited one study which showed that one vape cartridge contains as much nicotine as a packet of 20 regular cigarettes.
Half of those who vaped experienced depression while 70% of children found it difficult to kick the habit, she said.
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Vocabulary
- board: a group of people who have the responsibility of managing important business or government activities - คณะกรรมการ
- bracket (noun): people, prices, income, etc. within a particular range - ประเภท,ชั้น
- cancer: a serious disease in which growths of cells, also called cancers, form in the body and kill normal body cells. The disease often causes death - มะเร็ง
- cartridge (noun): a case containing something that is used in a machine, for example film for a camera, ink for a printer, etc. - หลอดเล็กใส่ของเหลวหรือก๊าซเพื่อนำไปใส่เครื่องมืออื่น
- crisis: a situation that has reached and extremely difficult or dangerous point - ช่วงวิกฤต
- depression: a medical condition in which a person is so unhappy that they cannot live a normal life - ความสะเทือนใจ, ความเศร้าสลด, ความหดหู่
- habit: a thing that you do often and almost without thinking, especially something that is hard to stop doing - กิจวัตร, สิ่งที่เป็นนิสัย, สิ่งที่ทำเป็นประจำ
- hooked: finding something so interesting or attractive that you want to do it as much as possible - ติดใจ ตกกระไดพลอยโจน
- impact (verb): to have an effect or influence on someone/something - มีผลกระทบ
- spike: a sudden increase - การพุ่งพรวดขึ้น
- trendy: very fashionable - ซึ่งเป็นที่นิยม
- vape (v): to inhale and exhale vapour containing nicotine and flavoring produced by a device designed for this purpose -
- vendors: people who sell things, e.g., food or newspapers, usually outside on the street - พ่อค้าแม่่ค้าหาบแร่แผงลอย