In June 2019, former president Paula-Mae Weekes addressed students at ‘We Day T&T’ and warned youths about the effects of social media distorting their reality.
On February 27, 2024, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley appealed to artistes to “clean up their lyrics,” which were negatively influencing our youths.
Dr Emmanuel Johnson, lecturer in the Department of Behavioural Sciences at the UWI, has reported that “the prevalence of current alcohol use among students overall is 42.5 per cent.”
On April 2nd, 2023, Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds said, “Our youngsters today are exposed to a tremendous amount of media violence”
On July 21, 2019, Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon wrote, “Children in our country are being sexualised as early as eight years old on average. Teens and young adults who are caught in pornography addiction usually say they saw porn at seven, eight, or nine years old…. Gender fluidity also now seems to be an epidemic. The United Nations began with a five-letter gender theory back in the 90s. Now, it has passed eight letters. Once gender is defined by desire, the proliferation of types will continue.”
Social media, musical content, media violence, pornography, and gender ambiguity are heavily influenced by American/European culture.
Parents also have to deal with peer pressure and hormonal surges affecting their teenagers. Parenting is a privilege and a challenge.
A few weeks ago, a 13-year-old girl with viral symptoms, visited my son Vinash, who is a physician. She was treated with paracetamol and a cough mixture. After two weeks, she was started on allergy medication and a steroid inhaler. She knew about the Sahara dust and gave away her parrot Camille (named after her favourite MP). After no improvement, she was started on antibiotics.
The clue to her illness was only eventually revealed by her younger brother, who snitched that she had been vaping.
Johns Hopkins cardiologist Michael Blaha voiced his concern about vaping among young people who have never smoked, taking up the habit and becoming addicted to the nicotine in these devices.
What was helpful to wean off older smokers is now the gateway of nicotine addiction in younger vapers. Two million young adults use electronic cigarettes and vaping as their first nicotine-based product.
The wide selection of colourful pods, bottles, and cartridges with a variety of flavours, including candy and bubblegum, are made to appeal to youths.
Blaha noted that the appeal of vape flavours may pose a broader danger to the public and although “vaping may not be as dangerous as smoking, the different flavours, dyes, nicotine, THC and many other additives and chemicals, causes concern …many users get even more nicotine than they would from cigarettes and can buy cartridges, with higher nicotine.”
In February 2020, the CDC recorded over 2,800 hospitalisations with 68 deaths due to (EVALI) e-cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury, a potentially fatal syndrome. Eighty per cent used nicotine or THC-containing e-cigarettes obtained from “informal” online sources, dealers and friends. With our present economy and bargain hunters, we could be in deep trouble.
Young persons view vaping as more socially acceptable than cigarette smoking but it opens the doorway to cigarette use and might ignite the next smoking epidemic.
The medical fraternity pushed hard against the global tobacco industry to reach where we are. We still face a battle with alcoholic drinks which are now made sweeter, with fancy names targeting our young women.
A WHO media release on October 20th, 2021, stated that the European Region has the highest rate of new breast cancer diagnoses and the IARC wrote, “Alcohol consumption was responsible for almost 40,000 new breast cancer cases in the region.”
I have counted 87 different bottles of alcohol in a grocery and people can’t get Forex for medical treatment abroad.
In 1988, the cartoon Joe Camel targeted teenage smokers. Now they trick us with devices giving clouds of sweet-smelling vapour.
I commend our Minister of Health, who spoke on “targeted interventions and actions” as his ministry’s policy position to reduce this vaping appeal.
But we need to do more. Our country conveniently adopts certain laws from the USA/Europe. What about adopting the death penalty, chemical castration for child rapists, and increasing the drinking age to 21 years?
Our PM announced our neutrality with the Venezuelan elections.
So we can act alone and stand strong when it is in our best interest. In the same vein, to save our children we can ban e-cigarettes, except for medical use at our smoking cessation clinics.
When in May 2023, WITCO’s managing director said the company was planning to introduce vaping products, Dr Asante Le Blanc expressed her disappointment.
Le Blanc’s legacy of attempting to make T&T a safer place for our children, rather than a richer place for the conglomerates, must be acknowledged.