FDA FDA identifies 92 events of overheating/fires/explosions from 2009 to 2015

[Bill Godshall]

FDA identifies 92 events of vapor products (i.e. batteries) overheating, causing fire or exploding in the US from 2009 through September 2015 (including 50 events that were reported in the news media), identifies 47 mostly minor injuries, number of events peaked at 36 in 2013 (although 24 events were identified in first nine months of 2015).
Electronic nicotine delivery systems: overheating, fires and explosions -- Rudy and Durmowicz -- Tobacco Control

Year Events
2009 1
2010 0
2011 1
2012 5
2013 36
2014 25
2015 24

I requested the full text version from the author, and she sent it to me.

Of the 92 cases, at least 11 were overheated products (that didn't cause any fire or explosion).

 

[puffon]

Thanks for the report!
Wonder how many were caused by user error.

 

[DC2]

Thanks for the report!
Wonder how many were caused by user error.

It would be interesting to know...

But in the end it really doesn't matter to the rest of the world.
Or the FDA.

 

[Verb]

Wow, much lower than I would have guessed. Good job on the battery safety folks.

 

[Alexander Mundy]

An interesting fact to know would be how many were from ego style batteries.

 

[Jingles]

It would be interesting to know how many house or other building fires were caused by smoking during those years. Also, how many forest fires attributed to smoking? Trying to put things in perspective here..

 

[salemgold]

Would also be nice to know how many explosions happened with other battery operated devices during the same time period.

Of course, the world may never know about those.

 

[MudVaper]

Found this on the fire administration website, a division of FEMA.

Sheesh, no matter what I do, can't get the stupid URL to paste onto this thread.

Gives interesting statistics on fires and fatalities and their causes.

 

[Woofer]

Cool, much less frequent than FDA lies and fud flinging.

 

[MudVaper]

index.html

Try this. Interesting stuff.

To get to the nitty gritty, you have to click the box "statistics". It will take you to another FEMA page, where you have to click "data" and a page with all kinds of charts for causes of fires in homes, how many deaths attributed to cause of fire, etc.

 

[pianoguy]

Let's see - hundreds of Chantix-related suicides vs. 92 e-cig overheating/fire/explosion events. Think I'll take my chances with the e-cigs.

 

[Train2]

Oh, let's REALLY put it in perspective!!

How many people pulled a flat screen TV onto their own heads? TENS OF THOUSANDS
How many people ran over their own foot with their lawnmower? THOUSANDS

Most likely, for every E-cig that malfunctioned, there are 100 people who shoved a pencil through their own eardrum.
Most likely, for every e-cig incident causing injury - INCLUDING user error, there are about 50 people who drilled through their own hand.

It would be interesting to know how many house or other building fires were caused by smoking during those years. Also, how many forest fires attributed to smoking? Trying to put things in perspective here..

BAN THE TV's!!!!
BAN THE PENCILS!!!
Think of the CHILDREN!!!

 

[sofarsogood]

FDA identifies 92 events of vapor products (i.e. batteries) overheating, causing fire or exploding in the US from 2009 through September 2015 (including 50 events that were reported in the news media), identifies 47 mostly minor injuries, number of events peaked at 36 in 2013 (although 24 events were identified in first nine months of 2015).
Electronic nicotine delivery systems: overheating, fires and explosions -- Rudy and Durmowicz -- Tobacco Control

Year Events
2009 1
2010 0
2011 1
2012 5
2013 36
2014 25
2015 24

I requested the full text version from the author, and she sent it to me.

Of the 92 cases, at least 11 were overheated products (that didn't cause any fire or explosion).

I read a lot of ecig news including the injury accident reports. Almost all of them involve loose batteries with exposed terminals or mechanical mods and most of those involve young men.

 

[Endor]

According to an article on Consumer Reports from mid-2013, they claim "...that the CPSC has received 61 reports of phones overheating, arcing, or experiencing other such problems in the past few years."

This site has some pretty detailed (and injury-producing) cell phone battery explosions with pictures: (link broken): http://www.androidauthority. com/busting-the-myth-yes-cell-phones-can-explode-42582/

Look, I'm not trying to discredit the need for increased battery safety, and the information that will hopefully stop people from using a $2 lithium battery off eBay to power their .02 ohm cloud atty on a clone mech mod, but I certainly hope that the FDA isn't using this as a springboard for more and more regulation (and demonization) of e-cigarettes.... because lithium batteries can and have presented problems in MANY devices.

 

[MudVaper]

Here is a report about a teenager getting burned by a cell phone. I wonder how many other modern wonders injure people that don't get frequently reported about.

I also know someone personally who had a small house fire when their kindle caught on fire for no apparent reason.

13-year-old girl suffers severe burns from her cell phone

 

[Rickb119]

I read a lot of ecig news including the injury accident reports. Almost all of them involve loose batteries with exposed terminals or mechanical mods and most of those involve young men.

Most young men have "loose batteries" whether they vape or not.

I speak from my own experience. (Many years ago of course.)

 

[MudVaper]

Most young men have "loose batteries" whether they vape or not.

I speak from my own experience. (Many years ago of course.)

Hey, that's sexist. Having been young once, can testify that young females are not immune from the same thing. We just go at it from a different angle, lol.

 

[mcclintock]

320 smoking-related deaths in 2013 alone.

 

[pianoguy]

I read an article from November that estimated there are 9 million regular e-cig users in the US. So 92 of these events (many of which have been caused by idiots) would mean that a little over 1/1000 of a percent (0.00001022222) of users have experienced such a problem. Add in the millions of other adults who have tried an e-cig at least once and the number gets much smaller. Pretty impressive safety profile.

 

[roxynoodle]

One of my coworkers had extensive fire damage to her condo due to a charging laptop.