The New Brunswick Lung Association is warning parents who vape not to do so around their kids, especially in an enclosed vehicle.
The association’s director of health initiatives, Barbara Walls, said there still isn’t enough research around the health impacts of second-hand e-cigarette vapour on the lungs.
“There are chemicals in the liquid that is then turned into vapour … and those are chemicals that are used to make rubbers and they are nitrosamines which are cancer causing. They are definitely not anything I would want to be inhaling,” Walls said.
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Walls said there are still no concrete studies to support that smoking e-cigarettes or the second-hand vapour they emit is truly safe for anyone, especially minors.
She said until Health Canada does more concrete research into the long term health impacts of e-cigarettes, parents who do chose to vape should avoid doing so in front of their kids — and not just because of the potential health risks.
“You are setting, to put it bluntly, a bad example.”
Walls said kids who see their parents smoke or vape are more likely to pick up the habit themselves.
Philippe Leger, who owns 1755 Vape in Dieppe said while he believes that e-cigarettes are a safer option than smoking cigarettes, he also advises against vaping near minors.
“It has not been proven yet, so I can’t say that it is not good. But if it was my child and I was vaping in the car, I would not vape,” Leger said.
According to New Brunswick’s Smoke-Free Places Act, no person shall inhale or exhale vapour from an electronic cigarette or to hold or otherwise have control over an activated electronic cigarette while another person in the vehicle is under the age of 16 years old.
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The fine for violating the smoking ban just might take your breath away — anywhere from $140 to $1100.
Dieppe resident Pascal Mazerolle said he turned to vaping to kick his smoking habit around two years ago, but he won’t vape near his two-year-old son.
“No chances around my kid at all; I would rather not smoke at all in front of my kid,” Mazerolle said.
Health Canada working on guidelines
In a statement to Global News, a spokesperson with Health Canada said the agency is working with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to “generate relevant data on vaping products” to bring the data together to inform policy and regulatory decisions.
Asked if any research has been published on e-cigarettes or second-hand smoking in the past, spokesperson Henry Guardado said that research is underway into second-hand smoke exposure as well as e-cigarettes, which Health Canada plans to publish the research in the future.