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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Shanti Das and Jon Ungoed-Thomas

Child vaping risks becoming ‘public health catastrophe’ in UK, experts warn

Girl vaping
The number of 16 to 18-year-olds who say they use e-cigarettes has doubled in the past 12 months. Photograph: John Keeble/Getty Images, posed by model

Lindsey Smith’s son was 14 when he bought his first vape. Engrossed in videos of YouTubers making “ghost puffs” with the vapour, he decided he wanted to try it for himself.

At first he would spend hours trying to copy the strangers online – sitting in his bedroom and practising exhalation techniques to create the ghost-shaped clouds he was seeing on his screen.

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