This article is very misleading and sensationalizes a non-issue. Perhaps not enough research was done to come up with the information used to support a political position. Directly from a CDC report on Injury Prevention & Control: Home and Recreational Safety-
"Among children, ED visits for medication poisonings (excluding abuse and recreational drug use) are twice as common as poisonings from other household products (such as cleaning solutions and personal care products) (Schillie et al. 2009)."
I cannot find the raw data that I had examined last year, but I analyzed the non-medication poisonings last year after finding a misleading report on this issue. At that time the leading cause of adolescent poisoning after medications was Cosmetics at 25% followed by household cleaners at 17.6% and foreign bodies at 13.8%. Sixteen classifications account for almost 90% of the poisonings before you get to tobacco products including pesticides, plants, arts and crafts items, alcohols, deodorizers, solvents, bites, chemicals, paints, adhesives and glues and essential oils. Tobacco is not even on the radar.
Only 1.1% of childhood poisoning is tobacco related and of that figure only .16% is related to smokeless products. If you're going to promote a safety concern for youth related to tobacco, perhaps you should look to the pharmaceutical NRT products that sit on shelves in drug stores in "candy" flavors that look like tic-tacs and gum as opposed to tobacco products that are, by law, sold behind the counter and can only be bought by adults.
I understand that legislators are busy with many issues, but they should understand that tobacco prohibitionists are always exaggerating issues to promote their cause.
As a matter of full disclosure, I have no vested interest in the tobacco industry and have a large investment in the pharmaceutical industry but inaccurate reporting such as this must be addressed.
