It is the fearmongering that is disturbing. Yes, nicotine can be poisonous in doses much higher than anyone would ever intentionally ingest, but no one is buying barrels of e-liquid. The vast majority of child poisonings are from medications (that have child-proof caps, btw) followed by household cleaners. There have been reports of child poisoning from nicotine patches and gums since at least 1997, and children have been poisoned by tobacco products such as cigarettes, chewing tobacco, cigars and tobacco leaves for as long as humans have been consuming tobacco.
The article is alarmist and I propose writing rebuttals. I am gathering actual science and statistics and working on something intelligent to write.
Yes, the fear mongering is alarming, but before we toss out the baby with the bath water, let's actually digest what is being said behind the hyperbole....
But less serious cases have led to a surge in calls to poison control centers. Nationwide, the number of cases linked to e-liquids jumped to 1,351 in 2013, a 300 percent increase from 2012, and the number is on pace to double this year, according to information from the National Poison Data System. Of the cases in 2013, 365 were referred to hospitals, triple the previous years number.
Examples come from across the country. Last month, a 2-year-old girl in Oklahoma City drank a small bottle of a parents nicotine liquid, started vomiting and was rushed to an emergency room.
That case and age group is considered typical. Of the 74 e-cigarette and nicotine poisoning cases called into Minnesota poison control in 2013, 29 involved children age 2 and under. In Oklahoma, all but two of the 25 cases in the first two months of this year involved children age 4 and under.
Are these numbers wrong?!!!?
NO. There is going to be increases of incidents of e-juice poisoning because
1. Parents do not treat e-liquid with respect because they are ignorant and treat e-liquid the same way the treat their smokes.
2. When a child does start vomitting, the first thing the parents do is call poison control and take their kid to be treated.
Was the child ever in danger of dying? NO.....but that's not the point.
As vapers, lets not get so wrapped up in how the message is delivered that we ignore the message.
If you are vaping, and you have quit smoking. Great. But you also need to take responsibility for that 12mg/ml or 18mg/ml you bought from the tobacco shop.
That vial of e-liquid you bought is NOT the same as a pack of smokes you leave lying around. The vaper you emit does not SMELL the same.
Your small child equated smokes with that nasty smelling smoke that you used to exhale from your piehole. That was perfect negative reinforcement to stay away. Now you emit nice smelling vapor instead.....And you child knows what is responsible for that.
Your e-juice may be in child resistant bottles but your clearomizer or tank is not child resistant.
Again, 3ml in a Protank may not be a lethal dose, but it is enough to make a child sick and this gets reported as an e-cig related poisoning.
Parents need to be cognizant of this. Especially new vapers. In each case of these poisonings, the parents were flabbergasted....They had no idea. The point is, they SHOULD have an idea. Just as new vapers should understand that their battery needs to be treated with respect when charging as well.
The article was written as a hit piece against e-cigs....But let's take the nugget of truth that is housed within it and use that to educate new vapers, especially those with young children, that they need to take special care so that they don't end up in the emergency room with little Johnny puking his guts out.
