Schools on vapour fad alert
WA schoolchildren are using "shisha pens" to inhale flavoured vapour that could lead to more of them taking up smoking in future, schools have warned.
Newsletters issued by several schools have alerted parents to the brightly-coloured shisha pens, which are similar to electronic cigarettes and are promoted online as harmless because they do not contain nicotine.
The pens are powered by batteries that heat a cartridge containing flavoured liquid and convert it to vapour.
Campbell Primary said some students had brought shisha pens to the Canning Vale school and parents should be aware that mimicking behaviours associated with smoking could raise the chance of substance addiction.
Principal Trevor Williams said the school became aware last month that children had bought shisha pens from a local market and were trying to leave class to use them.
"Since we made parents aware these implements are not allowed at school, there have been no reports of children using them," he said.
Also last month, Duncraig-based St Stephen’s School said senior students had been seen “vaping” on primary school grounds and warned they would be disciplined as if they’d been smoking.
Presbyterian Ladies' College head of middle school Sharon Anderson wrote in a newsletter on Friday that she had become aware of discussion about shisha pens at school.
"It would be a disappointment to know that girls are emulating smoking type behaviours," she wrote. Ms Anderson said while no shisha pens had been intercepted at school, Year 9 students had told teachers about the trend and she wanted to raise parents' awareness.
Anti-smoking lobbyist Mike Daube, who heads the Australian Council on Smoking and Health, said shisha pens carried the same risks as e-cigarettes and "absolutely" should not be used by children.
"They entail inhaling unknown and untested products, they are marketed as having assorted flavours that might be attractive to children and there is no quality control," Professor Daube said. He added that there was concern in the US that children's use of e-cigarettes had trebled in the past three years.
"In Australia we now have the lowest smoking prevalence in the world in developed countries, and 95 per cent of school students haven't tried smoking," he said.
"The last thing we need is a new product that will undoubtedly bring health risks and will help to renormalise smoking."
Cancer Council WA director of education and research Terry Slevin said the pens were "training wheels" for smoking.
