Angry and combative, that’s what GPs in West Brabant become because of vapes. “They deliberately make children addicted,” says one of them. They go into the classroom to explain to students in group 8 the harmful effects of vaping.
“If you smoke one vape a day, you are actually smoking two packs of cigarettes.” Students from Menorah primary school in Oosterhout listen attentively to GP Wendy Hendrikse.
“I didn’t know it contained so much nicotine,” says Elisa (11) after the guest lesson. “Vaping is really very addictive,” adds Mats (12).
“They secretly take a hit in the toilet.”
Fatigue, shortness of breath, concentration problems and feelings of depression: these are complaints that young people who vape come to Hendrikse and her fellow GPs with. They even see children with withdrawal symptoms. “They secretly leave class to take a hit in the toilet.”
Of all group 7 and 8 students, 8.2 percent have vaped, reports the Trimbos Institute. In 2019 this was only 3.2 percent. Only 1.4 percent have experience with smoking. In addition, young people in Brabant between the ages of 16 and 25 vape more than young people in other provinces, according to recent research by the GGD.
READ ALSO: Young people in Brabant vape and drink more than young people in other provinces
Time for action, says Care Group Region Oosterhout and Surroundings (Zorroo), which includes seventy general practitioners from the municipalities of Dongen, Drimmelen, Geertruidenberg, Gilze en Rijen, Moerdijk, Oosterhout and Waalwijk.
More than 25 general practitioners have therefore been giving the guest lecture ‘Vaping #yourchoice’ at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) since Friday. “Vaping has an image on the schoolyard cool. We want to change that,” says Hendrikse. This happens, among other things, with videos of vape-addicted young people.
READ ALSO: Tieme (19) ended up in hospital with a vape addiction
“Vapes make children acutely addicted as young as possible. They really already are junkies”, says Oosterhout GP Amber Geerts. Vaping is just as addictive as heroin and cocaine. The step towards smoking also increases three times. Geerts therefore took the initiative for the guest lessons in West Brabant.
“Vaping children are our future patients.”
She worries about kids vaping. Replacement smokersshe calls them. “Some smokers are dying, so the tobacco industry needs new recruits. Vaping children are our future patients.”
“We are working to create a smoke-free generation, but with the arrival of vapes, this is being negated by the tobacco industry,” says guest lecturer Hendrikse firmly.
Previously, lawyer Bénédicte Ficq from Goirle and vascular surgeon Joep Teijink from the Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven filed a lawsuit against the tobacco industry, which introduced the vape as a safe alternative to smoking.
“Behind bars with it,” Geerts also thinks. “They deliberately cause serious harm to children.” According to her, the guest lessons are therefore desperately needed. “If we sit back and sit back, that smoke-free generation will certainly not happen.”
Omroep Brabant previously investigated which harmful substances are contained in vapes:
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