Category Archives: liquid nicotine

e-cigarettes, e-cigs, liquid nicotine

Confirmed: Poisonings from liquid nicotine up dramatically — Centers for Disease Control

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p0403-e-cigarette-poisonThis is a follow-up to a post from a few weeks ago and confirms the point some articles were making about increasing poisonings from nicotine juice for e-cigs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control latest Mortality and Morbidity report (man, I used to read these things religiously), the rate of reported nicotine poisonings rose from 1 per month in September 2010 to a whopping 215 per month in February 2014. Whoa!

More than half of these poison centre calls involved children under the age of 5.

According to the CDC release:

“This report raises another red flag about e-cigarettes – the liquid nicotine used in e-cigarettes can be hazardous,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H.  “Use of these products is skyrocketing and these poisonings will continue.  E-cigarette liquids as currently sold are a threat to small children because they are not required to be childproof, and they come in candy and fruit flavors that are appealing to children.”

“The most recent National Youth Tobacco Survey showed e-cigarette use is growing fast, and now this report shows e-cigarette related poisonings are also increasing rapidly,” said Tim McAfee, M.D., M.P.H., Director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health.  “Health care providers, e-cigarette companies and distributors, and the general public need to be aware of this potential health risk from e-cigarettes.”

I’ve said this in the past, I’m on the fence about e-cigs: If they genuinely help some people quit smoking, I’m all for that. But, buy a clue about how toxic that liquid nicotine can be for your e-cigs. Jesus, if you have kids and are using e-cigs, keep those liquid nicotine containers locked up and out of kids’ reach.

e-cigarettes, e-cigs, liquid nicotine

Liquid nicotine … 1,300 poisonings in 2013 and growing; one teaspoon can kill a kid

NICOTINE-articleLarge

Saw this article splattered all over the Internet today. Scary.

Liquid nicotine, completely unregulated by the way, is one of the main ingredients of e-cigarettes. It’s extremely potent and dangerous in its concentrated liquid form and can kill kids if they get their hands on it and start drinking it. The New York Times, and USA Today  had articles on this today.

There were more than 1,300 reported poisonings from liquid nicotine in 2013, according to the New York Times, a 300 percent increase from 2012. That number is expected to double in 2014. The vast majority of these involved children 4 and under. (Interestingly, one of these poisonings involved an e-cig that broke while a woman was asleep and she absorbed the nicotine concentrate through her skin. Man, that is some powerful stuff.)

Again, an incredibly, potent, powerful drug … and completely unregulated at the moment.

“It’s the wild, wild west right now,” said Chip Paul, chief executive officer of Palm Beach Vapors, a company based in Tulsa, Okla., that operates 13 e-cigarette franchises nationwide and plans to open 50 more this year. “Everybody fears F.D.A. regulation, but honestly, we kind of welcome some kind of rules and regulations around this liquid.”