The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently commented on data showing growth in calls to poison control centers from accidental exposure of young children to nicotine-containing “e-liquid,” (used to fill e-cigarette and vaping devices), calling for “bold, immediate action at the highest levels of government” to address this issue. As an industry leader in the e-cigarette category, we too are concerned with such accidents, and fully support child-proof packaging requirements for e-cig and vaping equipment (along with numerous other common sense provisions, like health warnings on packaging, age restrictions, marketing limitations, etc.). Even the most carefully crafted regulations regarding safe packaging will fail to wholly eliminate the problem, however, as human carelessness is the most proximate cause of such accidental exposures. Government could require such e-liquids be stored in a locked safe, but human error and inattention would ensure that such accidents continue. And when considering the uptick in poisonings, let’s put the numbers in perspective. According to the latest data, calls to poison control for children under the age of 6 have gone up 14.2%. Similar reports continue to draw significant media attention.
First, such increases are bound to happen as the e-cigarette industry grows and matures, and vaping of all types continues to gain in popularity, converting people away from the far greater hazard of traditional cigarettes. E-Cigarette products accounted for approximately 103 calls per month to poison control for children under the age of 6. This may seem like a large number, but consider that according to The American Association of Poison Control Centers (aapcc.org), in the same period as the aforementioned study, they received ~26,412 calls per month for poisonings related to cosmetics, personal care products, and cleaning products alone. That’s a 25,643% increase from the number of calls received over E-Cigarette products per month! Considering the far greater threats that lurk under kitchen and bathroom sinks throughout America, why is it that The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), as well as many other entities, single-out the e-cigarette for opprobrium, describing them as “an emerging public health threat”? (And let’s not even get started on the actual public health benefits e-cigarettes actually represent.)
Accidental exposures and poisonings are a fact of life. Of course the TVECA supports child-proof packaging and health warnings, but let’s not get carried away with public health hysteria. According to the National Fire Protection Association (www.nfpa.org), cooking-related fires result in an average of 430 deaths, 5,400 injuries, and $1.1 billion in property damage each year. Perhaps public health advocates should call for a ban on frying chicken. Proper handling and control of e-cigarette and vaping devices by consumers, combined with reasonable packaging safety requirements, is the legitimate approach to this problem. Consider the above fire death statistics – “(u)nattended cooking was by far the leading contributing factor in these fires and fire deaths.” http://www.nfpa.org/research/reports-and-statistics/fire-causes/appliances-and-equipment/cooking-equipment. Rather than use the relatively small number of accidental poisonings as a reason to regulate e-cigarettes out of existence, let’s take a moment to put these numbers in perspective and agree on a sensible path forward.
