When Kyla Blight began vaping as a 15-year-old she assumed it was ‘harmless’.
After all, none of her friends who puffed on the gadgets — ubiquitous on the high street and sold for as little as £5 — had ever fallen ill.
Yet, Kyla is now terrified of the nicotine-laden devices and has vowed never to go ‘near them again’ after bursting a hole in her lung puffing the equivalent of 400 cigarettes a week.
But the now 17-year-old, from Egremont in Cumbria, is not alone.
Her case, which will undoubtedly alarm parents across the country, is another example of the UK’s youth vaping epidemic, which experts have called ‘disturbing’ and demanded immediate action to stamp out.
Figures show how the proportion of kids using e-cigarettes has exploded amid the decline of traditional smoking, with more than a third of 16 to 18-year-olds now regularly inhaling them.
For comparison, less than one in ten were doing so a decade ago.
This is despite sales of vapes to under-18s being banned, with anyone caught flogging them to children threatened with fines and prosecution by Trading Standards.
Campaigners have long blamed predatory manufacturers for the ever-growing crisis, claiming they are intentionally luring kids in with colourful packaging, compared to highlighter pens, and child-friendly flavours such as bubblegum and cotton candy.
A shocking MailOnline investigation last year even uncovered vapes resembling sweets and high street stores selling the devices next to chocolate and fruit gummies.
Two stores on London‘s Oxford Street has shelves cluttered with much-loved imported sweets and snacks, like Blue Raspberry Jolly Ranchers and Sour Apple Laffy Taffy.
But just metres away were flashing neon light e-cigarette displays, full of similarly sounding flavoured vapes, such as Grape Apple, Blue Fruits and Bubblegum.
MailOnline also discovered ‘dupe’ vapes mimicking Chupa Chups, Skittles, Jolly Rancher and Calypso, with near identical branding to the popular sweets and drinks in other stores along Oxford Street and online.
It was even possible to purchase these dupe vapes, along with ones not seemingly aimed at kids, on Deliveroo.
In efforts to stamp out the UK’s child vaping epidemic, Rishi Sunak last year pledged to ban disposable e-cigs completely.
Such devices – loved by kids – were expected to be outlawed by early 2025.
Under the Prime Minister’s wider crackdown, vapes were expected to be limited to four flavours, sold in plain, tobacco-style packaging and displayed out of sight of kids.
But July’s general election has now quashed any hopes of the historic bill passing before this Parliament.
Both Germany and Ireland have outlined their own proposals to place restrictions on vapes, with Berlin chiefs currently considering an outright ban on disposable e-cigs.
Separately, Australia has put in place measures to make vapes available only to those who have prescriptions.
Meanwhile, New Zealand has also set out restrictions that ban vape shops from being within 300 metres of a school and which ensure all vapes must have removable batteries.
E-cigs allow people to inhale nicotine in a vapour — which is produced by heating a liquid, which typically contains propylene glycol, glycerine, flavourings, and other chemicals.
Unlike traditional cigarettes, they do not contain tobacco, nor do they produce tar or carbon — two of the most dangerous elements.
Nicotine’s effect on the brain is well known — within 20 seconds of inhalation, it triggers the release of chemical messengers such as dopamine, associated with reward and pleasure.
But it also increases heart rate and blood pressure and makes blood vessels constrict. This is because nicotine triggers the release of the hormone adrenaline.
Some of the most popular vapes on the market, including brands like Elf Bar and Lost Mary, are sold in nicotine strengths of 0mg, 10mg and 20mg/ml.
A 20mg/ml vape typically contains 20 or 40mg of nicotine and allows for between 600 and 800 puffs.
A 20mg/ml vape with 40mg of nicotine, therefore, is equivalent to smoking up to two packs of 20 cigarettes.
But when a vape is illegal, it may contain far more e-liquid, and the strength per millilitre could be far higher than allowed.
This means, in theory, it could offer thousands of puffs and be the equivalent of hundreds of cigarettes.
Although widely viewed as safer than smoking, the long-term effects of vaping still remain a mystery.
Doctors have expressed fear there could be a wave of lung disease, dental issues and even cancer in the coming decades in people who took up the habit at a young age.
In April, one shock study warned that e-cigarettes may raise the risk of heart failure.
Researchers tracked 175,000 adults in the US and found those who vaped were almost a fifth more likely to develop the deadly condition, compared to those who didn’t use the devices.
And in March a separate alarming study suggested vaping triggers cell changes which may go on to cause cancer.
Scientists who examined mouth swabs from smokers and e-cigarette users found similar DNA changes in the cell samples taken from both groups.
It indicated vaping is ‘not as harmless as originally thought’, said researchers from University College London and the University of Innsbruck, Austria.
Other research has highlighted the risk posed by the chemical reactions that occur in the vaping process.
Metal components of the devices which heat the liquid containing the nicotine and flavourings — creating the vapour — can also release of a plume of toxic metals. These include arsenic, chromium, nickel and lead, known carcinogens.
Studies have suggested exposure to these metals could also contribute to dreaded ‘popcorn lung’ — dangerous inflammation of the respiratory organs which leads to wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath.
Popcorn lung is caused by a build-up of scar tissue in the lungs, which blocks the flow of air.
Earlier this year, MailOnline also discovered the number of adverse side effects linked to vaping reported to UK regulators has now eclipsed 1,000, with five of them fatal.
The extensive list includes everything from headaches to strokes.
These reports are made via the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s Yellow Card system, for adverse events linked to medical devices or drugs in the UK.
Members of the public and medics can submit them.
All five deaths were linked to respiratory and cardiovascular health problems.
NHS figures also show a rise in the number of children admitted to hospital due to vaping.
Forty children and young people were admitted to hospital in England last year due to ‘vaping-related disorders’, which could include lung damage or worsening asthma symptoms, up from 11 two years earlier, the NHS said.
Last year, former vaper Ewan Fisher, then 22, told how he had been left with the lungs of an 80-year-old smoker after vaping for just six months.
At just 16 he spent weeks in intensive care after his lungs failed the night before he was due to start his GCSE exams.
Mr Fisher, from Nottingham, had originally picked up vaping in an attempt to give up cigarettes.
But he ended up fighting to survive for 10 weeks in hospital and at one point needed to be put on an artificial lung.
Tom Padley, then 19, from Putney, London, also told MailOnline he had been using vapes since the age of just 13.
Tom, who picked up the habit in boarding school, said ‘it’s not like cigarettes, where you would have to find a place to go outside and do it — you can just do it non-stop indoors’.
But six years into vaping, he has begun to suffer health issues.
‘I get ill a lot more. I get ulcers occasionally in my mouth. I have a lot of coughs. I guarantee it’s massively increased due to vaping,’ he told MailOnline.
Their stories echo that of Kyla’s, who burst a hole in her lung and almost suffered a heart attack after collapsing from vaping.
She took up the habit at 15-years-old upon seeing her friends at school doing it and eventually she was using them every day, getting through 4,000 puffs a week.
But in May, her father Mark was forced to rush her to hospital after receiving a phone call that she had collapsed and turned ‘blue’ while sleeping over at a friend’s house.
After her heart nearly stopped beating, the 17-year-old underwent surgery for five and a half hours to remove part of her lung.
Medics discovered a small air blister, known as a pulmonary bleb, had developed on the top of Kyla’s lungs. It is thought her excessive vaping caused this to burst, leading to her lung collapsing.
She said: ‘Now I won’t touch them. I wouldn’t go near them. The situation has really scared me out of them.
‘I was terrified. We went in there [hospital] thinking we were only going to be in there for a few hours but ended up being there for two weeks having surgeries and all this.’
But the dangers of vaping are not limited to children.
In 2019, a 57-year-old British factory worker was named as the first e-cig user in the world feared to have developed a fatal disease directly linked to his vaping habit.
Terry Miller, 57, from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, died in 2010 after developing lipoid pneumonia, with medics confirming oil from vaping fluid was found in his lungs.
After smoking around 20 cigarettes a day for 41 years, he decided to give up and bought an e-cigarette from his local pharmacy, believing it was an healthier option.
He began vaping every day and would often buy nicotine liquid refills and new e-cigarettes on the internet from a company based in the South of England.
Around eight months after he switched to vaping in 2010, Terry’s lungs began to fail and he was diagnosed with fibrosis.
Everything you need to know about e-cigarettes
How much nicotine is in an e-cigarette?
There are many different brands of e-cigarettes, containing various different nicotine levels.
The legal amount of nicotine in an e-liquid capacity in the UK is 20mg/ml equating to between 600 and 800 puffs.
The Elf Bar 600, one of Britain’s most popular vapes, is advertised as coming in nicotine strengths of 0mg, 10mg and 20mg.
How many cigarettes are ‘in’ an e-cigarette?
The Elf Bar 600 contains the equivalent to 48 cigarettes, analysts say.
It delivers 600 puffs before it needs to be thrown away, meaning, in theory, every 12.5 puffs equate to one cigarette.
Experts say for many e-cigarettes, 100 puffs equate to ten normal cigarettes.
Is vaping better for your health than cigarettes?
Vaping products are considered to be better than cigarettes as users are exposed to fewer toxins and at lower levels, according to the NHS.
The health service adds that vaping instead of smoking cigarettes reduces your exposure to toxins that can cause cancer, lung disease and diseases of the heart and circulation, such as strokes and heart attacks.
Public Health England, which is now defunct, published an expert independent review in 2015 concluding that e-cigarettes are around 95 per cent less harmful than cigarettes.
However vaping is not risk-free, as while levels in tobacco-products are much higher, e-cigarettes still contain harmful toxins, according to a study by researchers from the Medical University of Silesia in Poland.
And Dr Onkar Mudhar, a London dentist who posts videos on TikTok, said Elf bars can cause gum inflammation, swelling and bleeding.
He said this is because nicotine dries out your mouth and reduces saliva, causing irritation from a build-up of bacteria and food that can’t get washed away.
Nearly 350 hospitalisations due to vaping were logged in England in 2022, which are thought to be mainly down to respiratory problems, such as shortness of breath, chest pain, lung inflammation and, in severe cases, respiratory failure.
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Emily Stearn
