Vapes, or ‘douche-flutes’ as I’ve heard them dubbed once before, are in vogue at the moment as an alternative to cigarettes.

Adults with children are more likely to vape than the child-free variety, probably due to the idea that vaping emits fewer toxins than cigarette smoke. I’ve heard some people go as far as to suggest that vaping emits no toxins at all, “just steam”.

Unfortunately for all you vaping parents out there, the authors of a new study describe the “steam” as “the new secondhand smoke”, reports CNN.

…children [who live with parents or siblings who vape] are potentially exposed to secondhand aerosols, an amalgam of compounds with yet unknown health consequences,” the researchers wrote.

According to the research letter, published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, 4.9% of American adults living with someone 18 or under reported using e-cigarettes.

That’s versus 4.2% of adults living in households without children according to study author Jenny L. Carwile, an epidemiologist at Maine Medical Center, who also pointed out that these adults tend to be older.

The authors of the paper point out that, in addition to inhaling the aerosol secondhand, there’s a risk that certain chemicals in e-liquids, like nicotine, can be absorbed through the skin or even eaten.

Dr. Robert Jackler, founder of Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising, previously told CNN that some e-liquids with high nicotine concentrations represent “a huge poisoning risk.”

Some bottles, many with sweet flavors, lack childproof caps and contain enough nicotine to kill an entire preschool class, he said.

The rise of vaping has apparently coincided with the rise in calls to poison control centres.

So yeah, do your kids a solid and vape outside.

[source:cnn]