WASHINGTON: The number of calls to US poison control centers about accidents with bottles of liquid nicotine for refilling e-cigarettes — many involving children — has spiked in recent years, health authorities said Thursday.
HunzaNews April 4th, 2014.
The number of monthly calls went from one in September 2010 to 214 in February 2014, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than half of the calls (51 percent) concerned children under age five who had swallowed, inhaled or spilled the liquid on their skin or in their eyes.
The most common complaints were vomiting, nausea and eye irritation.
About 40 percent of the calls were due to accidents involving people over age 20, said the CDC.
One death was reported, involving a person who committed suicide by injecting the liquid.
“This report raises another red flag about e-cigarettes — the liquid nicotine used in e-cigarettes can be hazardous,” said CDC director Tom Frieden.
“Use of these products is skyrocketing and these poisonings will continue.”
The total number of calls to poison centers for e-cigarette exposures alone — those combined with any other exposure were not counted — was 2,405 from September 2010 to February 2014.
In comparison, there were 16,248 conventional cigarette exposure calls to poison centers in that period, mostly due to young children who had eaten tobacco cigarettes.
Thenews
