Godfrey's Gospel: Vaping now will lead to many health issues down the road

OUR definition of a medical emergency and the government’s interpretation of the same thing are totally different. Any right thinking person would view an emergency as just that – something which needs to be dealt with now. But not government.

Remember all the talk about the dangers of single-use disposable vapes and the need to introduce a ban to protect young people from becoming addicted to them? It is now almost two years since the government of the day signed off on introducing such a ban, but because the two government ministers who were responsible for this lost their seats in the general election, nothing has happened – and nothing is likely to happen until the middle of next year.

According to a government source, no-one is looking to hold this up; it was delayed because of a change in government. However, the source stressed this was being treated as ‘a public health emergency’.

I’d hate to see a life-or-death scenario if that is the case; no wonder the National Children’s Hospital has become a boil on the back of several government ministers. Despite repeated promises from the builder and government setting aside up to €10 million to cover ongoing expenses relating to that fiasco, no-one can say exactly when the building will be handed over, never mind when the first child will be admitted for treatment.

When the vaping craze began rearing its head some years ago, smokers hailed them as an answer to their prayers. Cigarettes were (and still are) costing a fortune, but the vape was only a fraction of the cost and by all accounts were not nearly as harmful. To this day, no-one is quite sure if the vape causes the same damage to lungs or your general well-being as cigarettes, but as night follows day sucking some foreign agent into your lungs cannot be good for you.

As a former smoker – I was a three pack a day merchant at one stage – all I can say is I am damn glad I no longer smoke. I couldn’t afford them for one thing: today the average price is €16 upwards for a pack of 20. As well as that, I’m sure the old lungs would have packed up by now if I had continued smoking.

Like any craze, it took some time, but eventually even non-smokers were picking up vapes. They didn’t stink the same as nicotine; in fact, some had all sorts of flattering flavours, such a bubble gum or popcorn, so the same stigma wasn’t attached to them as a pack of cigarettes.

But then came the kicker: teenagers who had never smoked were buying these vapes, especially with the introduction of the disposable version, thinking it was cool to do so, not realising that these products are addictive, irrespective of what anyone tells you.

It is estimated that over one million such products are sold every week in Ireland – and it is not the seasoned smoker who is buying them. That prompted a debate at national level, and a decision to introduce legislation banning disposable vapes.

Happy days, if you could call it that. On the one hand, the seasoned smoker could still buy his alternative vape but the younger user, and it was mostly teenagers who were buying the disposable versions, would have to look elsewhere to get their kicks.

Remember the head shops? When they came under scrutiny for selling so-called ‘legal’ hallucinogens, legislation was introduced at lightning speed and practically overnight head shops were a thing of the past.

Unfortunately, the two government ministers charged with taking care of the disposable vape problem, Ossian Smyth of the Green Party and Fianna Fail’s Stephen Donnelly, lost their seats, hence the legislation, passed by government, was put on the back burner.

The bill to ban these vapes still awaits pre-legislative scrutiny in the houses of the Oireachtas, and as we all know they will soon be going on their Christmas break, even though they only went back to work last week. So the chances of it even appearing on any list for debate between now and next spring is highly unlikely.

It is not like we were going to be plodding around in the dark if this ban had been introduced. Remember, Ireland was the first country in Europe to introduce a smoking ban in pubs, restaurants and public buildings back in the day. Within no time at all, people got used to the idea and even welcomed a smoke-free environment, even if sometimes it meant running the gauntlet at a doorway, when neither a smoker nor the proprietor bothered to properly police the ban.

The vape was seen as an answer to this problem. In the beginning, people even argued that there was nothing in the smoke billowing all over the place – it was nothing more than water.

That argument has been put to bed, but still there are those who believe in blowing smoke, or whatever the vape produces, into your face as you walk by – and dare you say anything to upset them: isn’t it enough that they must get up and leave either their meal or drink and go to the doorway to satisfy their addiction? What more do we want?

Irrespective of what your thoughts are on running the vape gauntlet, putting the issue of a ban on disposable products on the long finger may not seem a problem to some, but 50 million vapes a year leads to a hell of a lot of addictions and a hell of a lot of problems down the road for our health services.