Over vaping is causing children and adolescents as early as elementary school age to end up in hospitals.
According to recent data from NHS England obtained by Sky News, there were 15 instances of children under the age of nine being hospitalised in the year up to April.
This is an increase from the two and 12 from the year before.
Last year, the use of e-cigarettes resulted in the hospitalisation of about 40 young individuals, all under the age of 19.
Professor Andy Bush, a paediatric chest physician at the Royal Brompton Hospital in west London, told Sky News he is ‘absolutely horrified’ by the statistics.
He said: ‘Young children are being exposed to substances of addiction, substances that are toxic and some of the toxicity is not known.
‘It’s a jungle… we just do not know what is in most of these things.
‘If a teenager starts smoking cigarettes, probably the worst that’s going to happen to them is they’re going to be sick and throw up behind the bike shed.
‘The acute use of e-cigarettes can put them in hospital, can put them in intensive care, things like lung bleeding, lung collapse and air leak, the lungs filling up with fat.’
Discussions around vaping have been top of the agenda recently, with the children’s commissioner calling for a ban on disposable e-cigarettes.
Dame Rachel de Souza said: ‘I am concerned by the rise in the number of children vaping in this country, particularly given the risks it poses to their health and wellbeing.
‘It is deeply worrying to hear how children feel pressured to vape.
‘It is insidious that these products are intentionally marketed and promoted to children, both online and offline.
‘Many children who are addicted to vaping have never even smoked tobacco, with vaping acting as a gateway rather than a quitting strategy.
‘Children deserve to lead long, happy, healthy lives, which is why I am unequivocal in my view that no child should be smoking or vaping.’
Children’s doctors at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health warned vaping is fast becoming a ‘youth epidemic’.
It recently demanded urgent action to protect youngsters, saying longer-term data on the effects of vaping is needed.
‘Since e-cigarettes have only been on sale in the UK since 2007, long-term studies don’t yet exist,’ the group said in a statement.
‘We have even less evidence on the long-term impacts of these products on young lungs, hearts and brains.
‘It took experts decades to fully understand the impact of traditional cigarettes, we cannot risk our children’s health in waiting this long again for longer-term studies.’