The Vancouver School Board is looking to ban e-cigarettes saying they are a huge concern for student health.
School Board Chair Patti Bacchus says the Vancouver Coastal Health encouraged them to prohibit the use of electronic cigarettes on school property.
The nicotine-free, battery operated cigarettes are unregulated and there has been no research about their long-term health effects.
They are often flavoured and involve inhaling vapours.
The electronic cigarettes are widely available, including over the Internet.
“Coastal health has advised us they do not think they are appropriate to use for children and youth,” says Bacchus.
The VSB raised the topic at a committee meeting last week to talk about the best ways to educate both students and parents about potential dangers of e-cigarettes.
Veda Peters with the BC Lung Association says their concern is that electronic cigarettes may “re-normalize” the act of smoking.
Peters says they welcome VSB’s efforts to ban e-cigarettes on school property.
“The school board recognizes that youth may be attracted to the flavours, to the act of mimicking smoking to appear to be grown up, and it just puts one more obstacle in the way.”
The board will vote on the ban on March 10.
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