Published2 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Philippa Roxby and Elena BaileyHealth reportersA third of 11-year-olds and more than half of 13-year-olds in England have drunk alcohol – putting it top out of 44 countries examined in a report by global health experts.Girls were found to be more likely than boys to be drinking and getting drunk aged 15 in England, Wales and Scotland. The World Health Organization (WHO) report said alcohol, which can damage children’s brains, has been normalised.It called on countries to introduce more measures to protect children.The report looked at data from about 4,500 school-age children from each country in Europe, central Asia and Canada in 2021-22 on cigarette smoking, vaping, alcohol and cannabis habits among adolescents. The UK has always had relatively high alcohol use among young people but it has been declining for some time.Study coordinator Dr Jo Inchley, from Glasgow University, said signs that more children were starting to drink at a young age was “concerning”.”Trying substances is part of growing up and experimenting but alcohol has long-term effects on health,” she said.Dr Inchley said being exposed to more alcohol at home, changing attitudes of parents and the rebound effects after Covid lockdown could all be factors in the trend.Research shows the earlier children start drinking, the more serious a problem it can become when they are older.At age 13, the report found 12% of girls and 9% of boys in England had been drunk at least twice in their lives.At 15, that had risen to a third of girls and a quarter of boys. More than a half of girls said they had drunk alcohol in the past 30 days.’I wanted to drink vodka at school’Image source, Harriet StrangeHarriet Strange, 30, from Kent started drinking alcohol when she was 14. “My dad was an alcoholic so I think there’s a chance that I may have done it because it was learned behaviour from him,” she said.”Once I started drinking it was a spiral of self-destruction.”My friends were always older than me so I would get them to buy alcohol for me or I would take it from my house.”Harriet would go to house parties when she was 14 or 15 and “nobody would bat an eyelid, it was just normal”.She said she knew from an early age that her relationship with alcohol wasn’t like other people’s.”It got to the point where I wanted to drink vodka at school,” she said.”My father’s death when I was 16 was really the catalyst of absolute self-destruct.”She has been sober for three-and-a-half years now and credits becoming pregnant with her daughter for saving her life.”I know what it’s like being a child of an alcoholic and I didn’t want to give that to her.”Harriet is now a recovery coach and volunteer for Nacoa, an organisation which provides support for those affected by a parent’s drinking.Helena Conibear, from Talk About Trust, which educates children in schools about alcohol and other substances, said most children have their first drink in the family home.”If teens think parents don’t mind, they will drink outside the home,” she said.Official health advice is that children and young people should not drink alcohol before the age of 18 and, if they do, not until at least 15. This is to protect their brains and their bodies, which are too young to cope with it.Vaping rates risingThe report also looked at other substances used by adolescents.On cannabis use, the report found more boys in Scotland had used the drug (23%) compared to all other countries surveyed. Cannabis use has dropped and stabilised in recent years but some vulnerable children are still continuing to use it, said Dr Inchley.No data on cannabis was provided for England.Smoking among children is much less common than it used to be – one in five 15-year-old girls said they had ever smoked a cigarette – but smoking rates are still higher among girls than boys in England and Wales. The report confirmed that vaping rates have overtaken cigarette smoking in most countries, with nearly one in 10 11-year-olds saying they’ve used a vape at least once, rising to 26% of boys and 40% of girls by age 15.Vaping rates in the UK are above average, compared to other countries. Even though vaping is thought to be much less dangerous than smoking, the risks of children breathing chemicals into their lungs are not yet fully understood. The UK government has already introduced measures to clamp down on the promotion and illegal sale of vapes to under 18s. Dr Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said harmful substance use among children in many countries was “widespread” and “a serious public health threat”.He said children were constantly exposed to harmful products online and that video games were helping to make drinking, smoking and vaping seem acceptable and normal.The report urged countries to introduce measures to protect younger generations, such as limiting the availability of nicotine and tobacco products, alcohol and a ban on advertising and promotion of any substances on mainstream and social media.Related Internet LinksCoping With Life – Mental Health Advice – YoungMinds – YoungMindsDrugs and Alcohol – Support For Young People – YoungMindsHow to talk to your child about alcohol – DrinkawareKnow the risks of underage drinking – DrinkawareCannabis – Weed – Effects of Cannabis – FRANKNacoa – Helping everyone affected by their parent’s drinkingWHO report on adolescent substance use in Europe, central Asia and CanadaThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Published6 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, South Gloucestershire Trading StandardsBy Philippa Roxby and Elena BaileyHealth reportersShops selling illegal vapes and the sale of vaping products to children are the top threats on the UK’s High Streets, according to Trading Standards officials.Hundreds of thousands of vapes which flout current laws have been seized.And there is concern that cheap, brightly-coloured vapes are ending up in the hands of 12 and 13-year-olds.The government said it was considering what more could be done to protect children from vaping.Child health experts said they were already “deeply disturbed” by the rise of children and young people picking up e-cigarettes.To hear that these products could also be illegal and unregulated was “terrifying”, they added.Shops selling to kids In a survey of more than 400 Trading Standards officers, 60% said their main worries were shops selling illegal vapes which are potentially unsafe, and the sale of any vaping products to under-18s, which is also illegal.”When Trading Standards teams do spot checks on the sale of vaping products to kids, we find around one in three businesses break the law,” says Duncan Stephenson, director of external affairs at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute.Image source, North East Trading Standards Association Mobile phone shops, gift shops and convenience stores are among the shops found to be selling the devices to children.Mr Stephenson wants to see tougher penalties for these businesses and a review of how vaping products are promoted – particularly when it comes to flavourings, colours and branding which appeal to children.UK laws limit how much nicotine and e-liquid is contained in vapes, and which health warnings are required on packaging.In recent years, vapes and e-cigarettes have been a successful way of helping many people give up smoking.But some shops are selling vapes containing 12,000 puffs of e-liquid, when the law permits only about 600. Others contain illegally high levels of nicotine.In the north-east of England alone, more than 1.4 tonnes of illegal vapes was seized from shops in the second half of last year, while in Kent there was a dramatic rise in counterfeit vaping products seized at Channel ports in December, with more than 300,000 removed.’My 15-year-old daughter wasn’t asked for ID once’One mother in Scotland, who wants to be anonymous, told the BBC that her 15-year-old daughter was sold disposable vapes illegally for months by her local corner shop.”They sold her 31 disposable vapes and never once asked her for ID,” she said.”There would be certain points of the day where she could go in and buy them. She would have to wait for the shopkeeper to give her the nod.”The woman said she was “angry” that corner shops would sell the devices to children “who are clearly under-age and in their school uniform”.”I couldn’t work out why my daughter was getting nosebleeds, headaches and mood swings, and when I came across the vapes hidden in her bedroom I was shocked,” she said.The girl told her mother she started vaping because all of her friends at school were doing it, and it got to the point where she was being picked on because she was not doing it.She has now stopped vaping and feels much better for it, the mother said.Vapes or e-cigarettes are far safer than normal cigarettes because they do not contain harmful tobacco, or produce dangerous tar or carbon monoxide from tobacco smoke.However, health experts say they are not risk-free, and more research is needed to find out about their potential effects over many years.They do contain nicotine – the substance which makes people addicted to smoking. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care in England said: “We have introduced tough regulations to deter the appeal of vaping to children, including restrictions on product advertising, setting limits on nicotine strength, labelling and safety requirements, and making it illegal to sell nicotine vapes to those aged under 18 years old. “We are carefully considering the recommendations from the Khan review: making smoking obsolete, including what more can be done to protect children from vaping.”Plain packaging pleaDr Helen Stewart, officer for health improvement from the Royal College for Paediatrics and Child Health, said she was “deeply disturbed” by the rise of children and young people picking up e-cigarettes.”We strongly advise children and young people against using illegal and unregulated e-cigarettes, and call on government and regulators to stop the sale of these products.”She said plain packaging of e-cigarettes and nicotine and non-nicotine e-liquids should be introduced, as well as tighter restrictions on advertising of vaping products so they are only used as an aid to stopping smoking.”If action is not taken soon, we run the risk of having generations of children addicted to nicotine,” Dr Stewart said.What are UK rules on vaping?only those aged 18 and over can buy vapes or e-cigarettescertain ingredients, such a caffeine and taurine, are bannednicotine ingredient warnings must appear on packagingpackaging should be childproofall e-cigarette and e-liquids containing nicotine have to be certified by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) before they can be sold in the UK. Search for brands on the MHRA websiteany product that is not listed should be returned to the shop where it was bought, or to your local Trading Standards officeanyone’s experience of suspected side effects from using vapes can be sent to the MHRA via the Yellow Card schemenicotine-free e-cigarettes do not have to be certified by the MHRA – they are subject to product safety regulations by Trading Standards More on this storyMarket flooded by unsafe vapes aimed at children13 July 2022Sharp rise in counterfeit vapes at Channel ports27 December 2022Related Internet LinksHow safe is vaping? – FRANKThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.