A major shake-up of the rules on vaping has been announced to stop children getting 'hooked for life', after serious concerns about the hidden dangers of E-cigarettes have emerged in recent years
As a worrying number of youngsters take up vaping, the Government has announced a crackdown on laws to stop kids from becoming addicted to the 'dangerous habit'. Camping Propane Tank
Disposable vapes are now set to be banned in the UK as part of the Prime Minister's new legislation to "stop youth vaping in its tracks". Recent research shows that one in five teens has now tried vaping - despite it being illegal for under-18s - and half of those who vape between 18 and 24 do so despite having no history of smoking.
Last year, figures showed the number of adults using E-cigarettes in the UK had risen to the highest rate on record at roughly 4.3 million Brits. According to the charity Action on Smoking and Health, almost 1,000 serious adverse reactions to vapes were logged, including five deaths linked to e-cigs in the last decade.
And it's not just over-the-counter vapes at the centre of the country's vaping crisis - counterfeit e-cigs with 'lethal' chemicals have sparked concerns. An investigation by the Mirror in 2023 revealed one man's fears for his life after he suffered a collapsed lung as a result of a fake, unlicensed pack of vapes purchased from a corner shop in County Durham.
Alex Gittins, 31, thought he bagged himself a bargain but ended up in hospital just hours later. He said: "I noticed an awful chemical taste in the back of my throat, then five to 10 minutes later I felt what was like a stitch. Next thing you know I'm laying in A&E thinking I was going to die."
Back in 2022, mother Rachel Howe called for more research into the effects of vaping and tougher legislation after her 18-year-old daughter, Rosey Christoffersen, died of collapsed lungs. She is convinced vaping liquids were responsible for her death. She told The Guardian: "I see kids vaping and I go and tell them that I believe my daughter died from e-cigarettes."
As the new changes to the rules on vaping, including restricting the flavours you can buy, are expected to come into force later this year, The Mirror revisits three victims of the vaping crisis - who have all vowed to never pick up e-cigs again...
A regular vaper was told he had just a one percent chance of survival after being left in need of a double lung transplant. Jackson Allard, 22, underwent the life-saving operation on January 1, putting an end to a series of serious health issues. His worried grandma, Doreen Hurlburt, feared she would lose her grandson forever.
She said: "At one point a doctor said he had a one percent chance of living." Despite his grandma's pleas, Jackson continued to vape, believing it was healthier than smoking. Now, after a double lung transplant, Jackson can't drink or smoke ever again. He was been warned another transplant is inevitable due to the damage caused by vaping.
Medical expert Stephanie Hansen has voiced concerns about the unknown long-term effects of e-cigarettes. She said: "Vaping or e-cigarette use is relatively new, so we don't necessarily know a lot of the long-term effects of vaping and that's honestly one of the scariest things about it."
She added: "I thought for sure we were going to lose him. I thought for sure he's not going to survive this, but in my mind, I kept picturing him coming home. His life will totally be different because of that. He said, he just wants to make sure other people don't do what he did, vape, and end up having to go through what he went through."
A woman feared her toddler would grow up without a mum after being rushed to hospital unable to breathe - all thanks to vaping. Jodie Hudson found herself struggling to catch her breath while walking around her house and days later was rushed to hospital with vaping-related pneumonia.
The 26-year-old, who lives in Worksop in Nottinghamshire, had swapped cigarettes for vapes two years ago - but never suspected what she assumed was a less harmful alternative would lead to a hospital admission. The council worker, who is mum to two-year-old Dillon Hudson, said she was smoking her vape "anywhere and everywhere".
After Jodie began experiencing intense feelings of breathlessness, she was rushed to A&E at Bassetlaw Hospital in September 2022, where doctors warned her if she didn't quit vaping, she "might die". The health scare has led Jodie to swear off the e-cigs for good - and the mum is now warning others to steer clear of what she believes could be "highly addictive" products.
Jodie said: "I'm now an asthmatic because of all this. I'm probably going to be on inhalers for the rest of my life. I have so many regrets - it's just been a waste of money and it's killing me. It's money I could've spent on life and now I have to spend more money on prescriptions. It's been such a wake-up call. Before I was staggering trying to quit vaping, now I've just done it cold turkey.
"I'm never smoking or vaping again. People always think it's not going to be them. It's never you until it's too late. This is definitely the wake-up call I needed, it's going to kill me sooner than anything else. Now I tell everyone to just quit - you don't need any other reason than your own health, save yourself. It's a waste, you're killing yourself."
A woman who now can't leave the house without an oxygen tank wishes she could "turn back time" on her decision to vape. Lucy Turchin began vaping at the age of 31, in a bid to give up smoking, but after just five months she began experiencing a "chemical burning feeling" in her lungs.
She noticed some improvements when she stopped vaping, but, when she resumed seven months later, the pain began all over again. A CT scan revealed Lucy was suffering from hypersensitivity pneumonitis, an immune system disorder that causes inflammation of the lung tissue.
Doctors have reportedly ruled out cigarettes as having caused Lucy's hypersensitivity given that her lung issues began shortly after she switched to vaping. The Mail Online reports that Lucy's condition forced her to drop out of her master's degree programme and even cancel her wedding.
She's spent $30,000 (£24,000) on treatments and has to go to the hospital every single week to get steroids to control her condition. Lucy, who lives in Washington State in the US, told the publication: "I hardly ever leave my house because of the risks of exposure to smoke and vape fumes while out in public.
"This is all terrifying to me. I am traumatised and have a lot of fear. I would do anything to go back in time and have made a different choice. I cry a lot and wonder why this happened to me. The world seemed to be at my fingertips before this. People need to be made aware of the risks.
"But also they need to be made aware that we cannot and will not truly know the risks until more millennials and Gen Zs are dead from vaping. We will not know until it is too late. I wish vaping was illegal in the USA. But of course, I wish that. Because then I probably never would have vaped. And this would have never happened to me. And the beautiful life I had been building would be mine."
Do you have a vaping health story to share? Get in touch. Email nia.dalton@reachplc.com.
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