'My son is vaping and he is so healthy, fitness-mad ... it’s so contradictory'

‘People would shun you if you smoked but they have no problem with vaping,’ says 19-year-old Katelyn Benson, as vapes have become normalised among Irish young people. Picture: PA 

The argument that vaping helps people quit smoking tobacco has been widely made in recent years, but there is now growing concern at the number of young teens who vape as a ‘rite of passage’ through secondary school.

Advocates for the youth information service, Spunout, have said vaping is increasingly seen as “attractive” to teens.