The Cancer Society is calling on the Government to introduce tougher rules to stop school children getting hooked on vaping.

The call comes after a new survey shows that high school students across the country are vaping in greater numbers than ever.

The Cancer Society survey asked 320 schools, including 142 primary schools, about students vaping.

Nearly 90 percent of secondary schools responded that they were aware of students vaping, and over half described vaping as a problem.

"This is an issue that is reaching into the homes of large numbers of New Zealand families," says the study's author, Candace Bagnall.

"To have a whole new generation hooked on tobacco products would be a disaster for cancer prevention."

Although current evidence indicates that vaping is less likely than smoking to cause cancer, Bagnall says there is not enough long-term data to know the true effects of vaping.

"To say that a product is less harmful than smoking tobacco isn't saying a lot - we are talking about a product that kills half the people who use it," says Bagnall.

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The survey showed that 72 percent of schools had seen an increase in students vaping in the past year, with 89 percent of secondary schools aware that students were vaping at school. 

Eight percent of primary schools surveyed also reported they were aware of students vaping at school.

Last month, Auckland Grammar School principal Tim O'Connor called vaping "an epidemic".

He said students were becoming "quite cavalier" with their vaping on school property.

In light of the increasing numbers of youth vaping, the Cancer Society is calling on the Government to ensure that all smoke-free areas are also vape free, and ban vape flavours that are attractive to children. 

It is also pushing to reduce access to ordinary cigarettes; continue to excise tax on smoked tobacco products; limit access to e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco; and limit the levels of nicotine in all tobacco products.

Juul, the maker of the most popular e-cigarette products in the world maintain their product is safe.