As a child, at various times I had occasion to forcefully empty the contents of my stomach. It was unpleasant, but by no means "devastating."
These people have been brainwashed by all the propaganda about "fatal doses" of nicotine. They take the dose of nicotine thought to be fatal, compare it to the total amount of nicotine in a container, and conclude that the contents of the container would kill a child if ingested. What really happens is that the nicotine triggers vomiting, which eliminates the vast majority of nicotine from the system. Nicotine that isn't in the system cannot kill the child.
During the past 27 years, the only child death related to tobacco involved a child that had both cigarettes and Valium in his system. Perhaps the Valium suppressed the body's natural defense mechanism against nicotine poisoning. Or perhaps the Valium itself killed the child.
The majority of cases require no medical treatment whatsoever. For example in 2009, out of 8,774 tobacco exposures, 1602 cases were treated in a medical facility, and only 4 cases were considered "Major". Of 1,307 pharmaceutical nicotine exposures, 315 were treated in a medical facility, and 2 cases were considered Major. There were no Deaths in either category.
Perhaps the PTA is not focusing its attention on the problems that are really the most dangerous. For example, there were 13,339 exposures to Amphetamines and Related Compounds. Of these, 4,337 required treatment in a medical facility, 75 were considered Major, and there were 3 deaths.
There were 51,999 exposures to alcoholic beverages, 4,060 treated in a medical facility, 202 were considered Major, and there were 8 Deaths.
