一位儿童健康专家介绍，儿童接触二手烟或电子烟、吸烟机等电子尼古丁输送装置，就像将儿童的生命挤出体外，让他们的肺部无法呼吸一样难受。
Prof Anthony Westwood, a retired paediatrician from Red Cross Children’s Hospital and lecturer at the University of Cape Town's department of child and adolescent health, said exposing children to nicotine not only denied them a choice not to get addicted, but could also have devastating consequences to their developing brains.
红十字会儿童医院退休儿科医师、开普敦大学儿童与青少年健康系讲师安东尼·韦斯特伍德教授说，让孩子接触尼古丁不仅剥夺了他们不吸烟的选择，而且可能对他们发育中的大脑造成毁灭性后果。
Addressing a panel of public health experts during a webinar on Tuesday, which discussed tobacco control legislation in SA ahead of world No Tobacco Day at the end of May, Westwood said early exposure to nicotine robbed children and adolescents of their future as they often become addicted and this was “extremely difficult to reverse”.
威斯特伍德在周二的网络研讨会上对一个公共卫生专家小组发表讲话时表示，过早接触尼古丁会剥夺儿童和青少年的未来，因为他们经常接触，这种情况“极难扭转”。该研讨会在5月底世界无烟日之前在南非讨论了烟草管制立法。
“How can we knowingly deny young people a choice by putting something in their brains when their brains aren’t fully mature and then saying today it was their choice?
“我们怎么能明知地否定年轻人的选择，就是在他们的大脑还不完全成熟的时候，把一些东西放在脑子里，然后说今天是他们的选择?
“Nicotine is one of the strongest of all substances that are addictive. It is highly addictive and toxic, and has potentially permanent effects on those young brains affecting attention, learning mood and impulse control.”
尼古丁是所有成瘾物质中最强的一种。它具有高度的成瘾性和毒性，对那些影响注意力、学习情绪和冲动控制的年轻大脑有潜在的永久性影响。”
Due to lack of regulation of certain tobacco and nicotine delivery devices, Westwood said it was not difficult for young people in SA to access nicotine. He said this was one of the reasons why the government should stop stalling and pass the new Tobacco Control Bill as soon as possible.
韦斯特伍德说，由于缺乏对某些烟草和尼古丁传递装置的监管，南非的年轻人接触尼古丁并不困难。这也是政府应停止拖延，尽快通过新的控烟法案的原因之一。
Westwood said the damaging effects of nicotine to children’s lungs started long before babies of smoking parents are born and were sometimes deadly.
韦斯特伍德说，尼古丁对儿童肺的损害作用早在吸烟父母的婴儿出生之前就开始，有时甚至致命。
“Children and young people have ended up in emergency units from these huge hits of nicotine, not just in an emotional way, but a physical way and potentially lethal way. A brain is developing and continues to develop and is not fully mature until the early and mid 20s.
“已经有孩子和年轻人因尼古丁的伤害而被送进急救室，这种伤害不仅是情绪上的，而且是身体伤害，并且可能致命。正在发育并持续发展的大脑，直到20岁左右才完全成熟。”
“This is not acceptable. We need to make sure these kinds of things happening to growing lungs are not happening in our part of the world. This is what we already know from electronic nicotine delivery systems. Don’t experiment on SA’s children.
“这是不可接受的。我们需要确保这些肺部伤害不会发生在我们这个地区。我们已经知道了电子烟的种种伤害，不要再让南非的孩子以身试毒。”
