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Perhaps we should take a better look at what our children are using
KAMLOOPS — We live close to one of the public high schools, which means that on any given day during lunch break, there is a stream of teens walking in front of our house, many of them shrouded in white billows of steam. If you walk past them, there are various (fruity or not) flavours hitting your nose. There is also a consistent group of students who congregate in the back lane to dedicate some of their lunch break to vaping.
Though the selling of vaping products, at least of those containing nicotine, to people under the age of 19 is not allowed in Canada, our young ones are nonetheless using them, selling vaping devices or components, to other teens, and they do so openly. The cat is out of the bag.
This is a contentious topic for sure. There are strong and polarized opinions, as most people already know. While we can all agree that the reasoning behind the invention of the gadget by a Chinese chemist named Hon Lik in 2000 was a positive one, the present-day state of affairs bears a close inspection.
Having witnessed his father’s deadly addiction to cigarettes, Hon Lik designed the device to help people kick the smoking habit. Yet in the 18 years since the invention of these devices, there are a few ethical, social, and health ramifications that we ought to consider, so that we will not be taken by surprise (or immense guilt) years from now when more research might point to undesirable effects.