E cigarettes should be banned from school premises to stop children assuming they are safe, heads say.

Head teachers’ union NAHT is worried pupils may want to copy parents they see using them in the playground.

It comes as a ban on sales of the nicotine aids to under 18s is announced by the government.

The Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association said schools had a right to ban any activity on their grounds but the thinking was “muddled”.

E cigarettes were originally designed to help smokers quit, and some researchers have said they could save many thousands of lives in the UK.

But concerns are growing that young people may start using them or “vaping” without ever having smoked.

Experts say it is not yet known what harm the tobacco free devices could inflict and that their contents could be damaging young people’s health.

But manufacturers insist they are much safer than regular cigarettes as they do not contain lung damaging tobacco or smoke.

The NAHT discussed the issue after some head teachers reported seeing parents using e cigarettes in their playgrounds.

Head teacher and chairwoman of the NAHT policy committee, Sally Bates, said “At the moment anyone ‘vaping’ has no way of knowing what they are putting into their body.

“We accept there may be some benefits as a means to wean people off cigarettes but that does not make e cigarettes safe.

“Nicotine is a toxin which has been linked to agitation and blood vessel disease.

“The long term effects of inhaling it in the form of e cigarettes is unknown.

“Therefore children should not be allowed to form the opinion that it is a safe thing to do.”

She added “It is particularly concerning that these products can appeal to a younger market with fruit, candy and alcohol flavours available.

“Schools should send a clear message to pupils and parents that the use of any kind of cigarette, electronic or otherwise is not acceptable on school premises.”

‘Medicines’

Katherine Devlin, president of the Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association, said the industry was pleased about the forthcoming ban on sales to under 18s.

It was right that schools banned pupils from using the products, she said, but added that the issue of banning parents was a little more complicated.

“The motivation for doing so has not been very well thought through,” she said.

“What we need to do is focus on the thousands of lives being saved by e cigarettes.”

She added “Any business premises, school or hospital, has the right to make policy decisions for their own premises.”

According to NHS England, electronic cigarettes are to be licensed and regulated as an aid to quit smoking from 2016.

From that point they are due to be classed as “medicines”, which means they will face stringent checks by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

Until this happens, e cigarettes are only covered by general product safety legislation, meaning they can legally be promoted and sold to children, despite a lack of clarity about their ingredients or how much nicotine they contain.

The Department for Education said “The government plans to introduce legislation that will ban the sale of e cigarettes to children under 18 and make it illegal for adults to buy cigarettes for them. This will help parents protect their children from the dangers of smoking.

“We have strengthened teachers’ powers so they can search for and confiscate more items, including those banned by the school’s rules. It is up to schools to choose whether to ban an item from their premises.”

One day to go, bloomberg bans use of e-cigarettes in public – us news

Favorite brand of cigarettes t_t

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will sign into law Monday a ban on using electronic cigarettes anywhere conventional cigarette use is prohibited. Critics says the new restriction may contrary to its stated intent harm public health.

Bloomberg will sign the legislation, approved Dec. 19 by the city council in a 43 8 vote, around 2 p.m., spokeswoman Evelyn Erskine says.

The ban is the latest and last in the billionaire mayor’s decade long campaign against smoking. In 2003 the mayor signed into law a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. In 2011 the ban was extended to include city parks and beaches. And on Nov. 19 he signed a bill raising the city’s tobacco age to 21.

The last day of Bloomberg’s 12 years in office is Tuesday.

Charles Connor, former president and CEO of the American Lung Association, is one notable opponent of the new rule.

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“Above all else, the role of our government should be to further advance the nation’s efforts to reduce the harm and death toll caused by combustible tobacco products,” Connor said in a statement.

“Electronic cigarettes are poised to revolutionize the tobacco industry by one day making traditional cigarettes obsolete,” said Connor, whose mother died last December from smoking related lung failure and who now advises a group promoting the use of e cigarettes. “By impulsively and inaccurately lumping vaping in with traditional cigarette smoking, a ban on these game changing devices will discourage other smokers from trying a positive alternative.”

Gregory Conley, a consultant to the e cigarette industry on legislative issues, agrees.

“Banning something that helps smokers quit, solely because it looks like smoking, is a new height of absurdity for Mayor Bloomberg,” says Conley, who formerly served as spokesman of Consumer Advocates for Smoke free Alternatives.

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“There will be no public health benefits from the passage of this law,” Conley says. “Inevitably some smokers will interpret the ban to mean that e cigarettes are just as hazardous as cigarettes. Sending that signal to smokers is simply irresponsible. Indeed, the ban will actually hamper Mayor Bloomberg’s long stated quest to eradicate smoking.”

Unlike conventional cigarettes, which burn tobacco leaves, e cigarettes vaporize a liquid that’s a blend of propylene glycol and/or vegetable glycerine, combined with flavoring and tobacco derived nicotine.

E cigarette sales in the U.S. are projected to exceed $1.7 billion in 2013, according to a Wells Fargo Securities estimate, doubling 2012 sales.

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The long term effects of smoking e cigarettes have not been studied, but even anti tobacco hawks acknowledge the devices are likely healthier than their combustible cousins.

A 2012 study by University of Perugia researchers in Italy found the particulate matter of exhaled e cigarette vapor is significantly lower than tobacco smoke, conceivably reducing or eliminating second hand inhalation. A large scale study by New Zealand researchers, published in September by The Lancet, found e cigarettes are as effective as nicotine patches in helping smokers quit. Various nicotine concentrations are offered by e cigarette companies, allowing users to wean themselves off the drug.

Although often a trend setter, New York City is extending its smoking ban after several other states and cities did so.

Across the Hudson, then Gov. Jon Corzine, D N.J., extended his state’s smoking ban to cover e cigarettes in 2010. Utah followed in 2012. Health regulators rather than city councilmen in Boston and Seattle also added e cigarettes to local smoking bans, in 2011 and 2010. But the Big Apple measure may propel another round of rules elsewhere.

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Audrey Silk, founder of the smokers’ rights group New York City Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment, says the newest nicotine restriction proves that Bloomberg’s anti smoking crusade has “nothing to do with smoke.”