Nicotine poisoning rockets mid e-cig battle
From: The Local (Sweden)
Liquid and vapour nicotine is becoming a household poison, with a tenfold increase in cases of e-cigarette poisoning in Sweden, including children who drink the refills.
Twenty-nine cases of nicotine poisoning specifically from electronic igarettes were reported this year in Sweden, nearly a tenfold increase from last year’s three incidents. A third of the reported cases were children, the Swedish Poison Information Centre (SPIC) stated.
“We are extremely worried about this product,which is spreading like wildfire,” said Barbro Holm Ivarsson, spokesperson from Pscyhologists Against Tobacco, to news agency TT. “And if such strong liquids are going to exist then it is a very serious problem that they are not regulated yet.”
E-cigarettes, or e-cigs, are made to look like real cigarettes but instead contain a battery, small heater, and liquid known as smoke juice. The liquid is heated into a vapour which the user then inhales. The liquid usually contains nicotine, but not always.
The sale of smoke juice containing nicotine is banned in Sweden, but it can still be ordered online and has a growing street market. Since it is the vapour that users inhale, the liquid inside of the e-cig is extremely concentrated – and quickly becomes lethal.
“The concentration of nicotine in a 10 milliletre bottle (of smoke juice) is so strong it can kill a small child,” Ivarsson said.
In May, a two-year-old girl in Israel died after drinking the liquid, and cases of liquid nicotine poisoning are becoming increasingly common worldwide. Poisoning can occur through drinking the liquid or inhaling the vapour.
“I don’t think we have had any cases (in Sweden) where a child inhaled it,” Eva Olsson, pharmacist at SPIC, told The Local. “Usually kids find the little bottle and drink it. And it’s essentially the same thing as a child smoking a cigarette. They are not used to the nicotine and their bodies can’t handle it.”
Pharmacists at SPIC have seen serious cases involving symptoms of vomiting, shock, seizures, and heart palpitations, but no deaths yet.
E-cigarettes have been a hot-topic in the EU for the past few months, with a town in northern France banning their public use in November, and a national ban likely to follow. Spain followed suit in mid-December.
The European parliament voted in October against classifying the products as medicinal, a move which would have made e-cigs available only from pharmacies. But in Sweden, as well as Denmark and Finland, e-cigs containing nicotine are still classified as medicine. All medicines must be investigated and regulated before they can be sold, resulting in a de facto ban of e-cigarettes, which are still somewhat novel.
“It’s very unclear,” Olsson said. “Nicotine is classified as medicine, but the laws regarding (the liquid) are not finished. People can still order it online and some stores sell it over the counter. Selling it is not really allowed, but it’s not really forbidden either. “
