Scots school warns kids against smoking illegal 'Elf bars' and vapes which risk exploding and 'causing burns and disfigurement'

Dec 22, 2023

Pennyburn Primary School in Kilwinning, Ayrshire told parents there is a recent trend among young pupils of smoking the dangerous vapes which will cause facial burns and disfigurement if they explode.

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A Scots primary school has issued a warning to parents after a worrying 'new craze' of young children smoking illegal vapes, which can explode and cause facial burns.

Pennyburn Primary School in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, told parents there is a recent trend among young pupils of smoking the dangerous vapes which will cause facial burns and disfigurement if they explode.

The school said while the issue was not unique to the immediate area, children seem to be finding discarded vapes and 'Elf Bars' - which is a specific type of brightly coloured and flavoured disposable vape - in the local community and picking them up to smoke them.

The worrying email and text message was sent out to the parents and carers of the school's 181 pupils on Tuesday, November 16.

It read in full: "To all Parents and Carers, it was brought to our attention yesterday that there appears to be a new craze among young people in the community smoking vapes.

"I have spoken with colleagues and this does not appear to be unique to Pennyburn.

"There have been some reports of children finding used vapes and 'elf bars' laying around the local community however there may be other ways children are accessing these that we don't know about.

"There are obvious risks associated with inhaling these and reports of them exploding leading to facial burns and disfigurement.

"Please talk to your child about the risks to them using these. This is not what we want for our children!

"If you have information about where these items are being accessed by young people please contact the police."

A spokesperson for North Ayrshire Council told the Daily Record anyone with information on how the school children are accessing the illegal vapes should contact police.

The spokesman added: "An email was issued to parents/carers of pupils at Pennyburn Primary School on the use of vapes.

"The issue was raised by a parent who notified the school of children using vapes out of school hours.

"Following discussion with our Locality Police Team - who advised that this is not an issue specific to only the Pennyburn area, we decided to issue a communication to parents/carers as a preventative measure and to raise awareness of this issue and the dangers vapes pose, particularly to young people.

"We would encourage anyone with information about where young people are accessing vapes to contact the Police."

Just last month we told how children had been coughing up blood after being sold the illegal vapes in Scotland

More than 150 of those vapes, which look like highlighter pens and come in flavours like bubblegum - were seized following a swoop on a store in Cumbernauld.

North Lanarkshire Trading Standards launched an investigating after a tip off from a concerned parent which alleged that kids were buying the disposable vapes.

Elf Bar 600 are legally sold to people over the age of 18 in the UK however some illegal vapes - known as Elf Bar 1500 - contain more than double the amount of nicotine than is contained in a packet of cigarettes.

Disposable nicotine vapour products must contain no more than 2ml of liquid, the equivalent nicotine in one packet of cigarettes.

2ml of liquid equates to around 600 puffs in a vape product; some of the products seized contained more than 1,500 puffs, which is against the law.

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