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A scientist has revealed the most disturbing side effects caused by a vaping addiction.
Originally created to help smokers ditch cigarettes, vaping has seen a huge rise among young people and children in recent years.
In a bid to combat the rise, the UK government is set to introduce strict new measures aimed at targeting young vapers, with new laws set to ban disposable vapes, limit the sale of certain flavours and impose fines on shops in England and Wales that sell vapes illegally to children.
Claire Wakefield, a researcher and psychologist from the Minderoo Foundation, revealed the most grisly symptoms she's seen vaping cause.
Wakefield told Abbie Chatfield's It's A Lot podcast that nicotine poisoning - also known as ‘nic sick’ - is one of the most disturbing side-effects she's seen.
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"The ones that hit home for me - where there's tons of evidence - is acute nicotine toxicity, which they call ‘nic-sick’. That's essentially when you have too much nicotine at once," she explained.
Nicotine poisoning is caused by having a toxic amount of nicotine in your body, with symptoms including nausea and vomiting, dizziness, headaches, confusion, diarrhoea, shallow breathing and extreme fatigue - and in extreme cases, fatality.
While tobacco products containing nicotine have long been used in cigarettes, there is a particular risk of nicotine poisoning from vapes due to the products containing a liquid form of the chemical.
"Nicotine poisoning is a relatively rare occurrence. However, it’s become more prevalent in recent years due to new nicotine products, such as electronic cigarettes (vapes) and pure liquid nicotine," guidance from the American Lung Association (ALA) states.
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Wakefield went on to recall a particularly disturbing case which has stuck with her - involving a young woman who began to vomit a strawberry-flavoured liquid.
"She says she knew she had a problem when her vomit started tasting like vape," she added.
"Strawberry-flavoured vomit, because she'd had so much vape. If you Google ‘Vape burns’, it's not pretty'."
The Department of Health and Social Care has added that the main concern with vaping involves young, non-smokers who purchase disposable vapes.
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"While vaping is a preferable alternative to smoking for adults, we are concerned about the rise in youth vaping, particularly the increasing use of disposable vaping products," a spokesperson previously told LADbible.
"We are exploring a range of measures to address this – including clamping down on children accessing vapes illegally, and those who are getting them hooked on nicotine.
"It’s right for the government to do all it can to protect children from addiction."
Brenna Cooper