Children as young as 10 will this year be taught in Victorian classrooms about the dangers of e-cigarettes, as health and education authorities try to stay ahead of the vaping industry’s marketing campaigns.
Quit Victoria has launched the statewide, government-backed scheme to prevent children in years 5 and 6 at government, Catholic and private schools from forming a vaping habit.
Vapes have been described as “the most significant public health menace” facing young Australians.Credit: iStock
Quit says it wants to counter the vape industry’s “aggressive marketing” of e-cigarettes to children with the early intervention program aimed at pre-secondary school students.
Vaping and nicotine withdrawal had emerged as a major source of behavioural problems in Victorian classrooms, said Quit director Rachael Anderson.
She said on Wednesday that the program targeted children before they reached early secondary school, when they …