According to Croatian media outlet Glas Slavonije, Dr. Miodrag Beneš, a public health expert in Croatia, delivered a lecture to seventh and eighth-grade students at Ivan Brlić Mažuranić Elementary School in Orahovica on the topic of e-cigarettes.
He explicitly stated that e-cigarette advertising portrays it as a harmless product, misleading teenagers, and this phenomenon is particularly severe in Croatia.
Dr. Benešh, during a lecture, revealed that he has visited the majority of schools in the province and discovered students purchasing e-cigarettes near the school entrance. “E-cigarettes are marketed as a healthier alternative to regular cigarettes, but in reality, the opposite is true,” he added.
He further added that young people nowadays are putting various small pouches from their pockets into their mouths, thereby directly absorbing nicotine through the mucous membrane. “This may lead to oral cancer and gum cancer,” he pointed out. He highlighted that e-cigarettes contain formaldehyde, which is used to preserve dead bodies, in addition to nicotine.
He ultimately condemned the open selling of these products to children and adolescents throughout Croatia, firmly opposing such behavior, and suggesting that their purchase should be prohibited for the sake of the well-being and normal development of children.
