Vapes are ‘public health ticking time bomb’ for under-18s
- MPs have heard that vaping products are being “illicitly traded” in schools.
- In an attempt to encourage the Government to take further action on discouraging vape use among under-18s Conservative MP, Neil Hudson, has suggested that vapes could be hidden from view in shops.
- Last month, ministers promised to crack down on the illegal sale of e-cigarettes to under-18s and are also attempting to identify ways to reduce the number of children using the products.
- Hudson also told MPs that there have been “reports of students leaving lessons and even walking out of examinations” as they need the use of their vape.
- Yesterday, the Independent revealed that Australia announced a ban on recreational vaping in an attempt to curb teenagers using e-cigarettes.
- Check out our article on Youth Vaping.
- For more please see the Independent’s website.
Snapchat is bringing ads to Spotlight and ‘My AI’
- Snapchat is bringing ads to Spotlight and its chatbot “My AI”.
- Snap began to test ads in Spotlight last year but are now starting to roll them out globally.
- Sponsored ads within My AI chats are meant to be relevant to the conversation.
- For example, a conversation about video games could point the user to links from a game retailer.
- The chatbot can already recommend local restaurants based on Snap Map location and may provide sponsored posts from local restaurants.
- For more please visit Engadget’s website.
UK Government’s new fraud strategy to ‘block scams at the source’
- The UK Government’s new fraud strategy will include blocking fraudulent communications at their source, banning cold calls and delaying suspect payments.
- It also plans to work with Ofcom to use new technology to combat number “spoofing” so fraudsters cannot impersonate legitimate UK phone numbers.
- Devices that can be loaded with hundreds of sim cards that are controlled by a computer (“sim farms”) will also be banned and the use of mass texting services will also be reviewed.
- The UK’s new fraud reporting centre is said to replace the current Action Fraud service will reportedly be ‘up and running within the year’.
- For more please visit the Independent’s website.
Calls for 11,000 more school nurses in UK as children’s needs grow
- Researchers and campaigners say that the UK needs at least 11,000 more school nurses to deal with the increasingly complex needs of young people post pandemic and to prevent the development of serious mental health problems.
- The number of school nurses has fallen by 35% over the last five years.
- The lack of long-term investment in many areas has seen a removal of the role.
- School nurses are concerned that an increase in their workload may result in vulnerable children being missed.
- Experts are concerned that the stereotype of school nurses means the complex aspects of their role go unnoticed and is not reflected in their pay grade.
- A spokesperson for the Department of Health stated there would be an increase in the number of mental health teams in schools by the end of April 2023 and an investment of 2.3bn a year in mental health services.
- They also noted that school nurse numbers are the responsibility of local authorities.
- For more on this story, please visit the Guardian website.
