E-cigs' liquid nicotine causing poisonings
E-cigs' liquid nicotine causing poisonings
By John Bonifield , CNN
updated 1:32 PM EDT, Thu April 3, 2014 CNN.com
(CNN) -- As electronic cigarettes increase in popularity, calls to the nation's poison control
centers about exposure to the liquid nicotine used in many of the devices have surged, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
In February, there were 215 poison center calls involving e-cigarettes, the CDC said in its
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. That's compared to one per month in September 2010.
And 51% of those calls involved children 5 and under, officials said.
Since not all poisonings get reported, the CDC said the total number of cases is likely even
higher.
Nicotine is a drug, and in its concentrated liquid form, poison experts warn it is also significantly
toxic, even in small doses. E-cigarettes, which are not required to be childproof, feature flavors
like spearmint, banana and bubble gum, making them appealing to kids.
"What's attractive to kids: It's the smell. It's the scent. It's the color," said Gaylord Lopez, director
of the Georgia Poison Center. "A kid's not going to know the difference between a poison and
something they can drink."
An Oklahoma mother found that out the hard way when her 4-year-old son got his hands on the
liquid nicotine used to refill her e-cigarettes.
"We hear a little noise, come in and he has taken the lid off of all of them and has this liquid
everywhere. He's got it all over him. He's been eating it," Ren Gaulrapp told CNN affiliate KFOR.
Her son was rushed to the emergency room and vomited all day long.
E-cigarettes: Healthy tool or gateway device?
Poisonings can also occur when liquid nicotine is inhaled or absorbed through the skin or eyes,
and other side effects can include nausea and eye irritation. It can even be deadly. One person
used the liquid to commit suicide by injecting it, according to the CDC.
Lopez said his poison center has also taken calls from adults who've spilled e-cigarette nicotine
on themselves while filling up the devices.
"You can start to feel sick in as little as four to five minutes," he said. "The fumes themselves can
be poisonous, and if we inhale them for long enough we're going to get a little sick to our
stomach."
