Just off the property of London, Ont. high school, a group of male teens vapes on e-cigarettes during a break from class.
“I've been vaping for five years now,” Tanner Olsen tells CTV.
Another teen comments on the attraction of the habit, prohibited legally to those under 19 saying, “I don't know. It’s just a nice buzz…it gets you going on the day.”
But in the wake of Wednesday's announcement from the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU), the teens are thinking a bit more about their vaping habits.
The health unit confirmed Canada's first suspected case of a vaping-related illness.
The agency says a high-school aged youth was put into intensive care with a pulmonary illness. The youth had no other health concerns experts could isolate, except vaping. The teen has since recovered.
The admission sparked a wave of calls for increased regulation and bans on advertising from numerous health groups on Thursday.
London vape store owner, Bill Thibodeau agrees with controlling e-cigarette advertising aimed at youth.
However, he questions the MLHU decision not to release, what he says, is key information about the youth hospitalized.
Thibodeau says the health unit should not be concealing whether or not the youth vaped THC- or nicotine-based liquids, and what brand caused the concern.
To date, MLHU has said it won’t release that information due to confidentiality.
But Thibodeau argues confidentiality is not revealed if the brand is named.
Further, he says, “If it was manufactured, by us, or by anyone else, I think that would be an appropriate thing to know, so we don't endanger us or anyone else."
Health officials say most chemicals in e-cigarettes have not been tested for health risks.
