One young child who visited his emergency room was severely dehydrated and required intravenous fluids to manage his symptoms. He also experienced severe nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea.
Children may also experience hazardous dips in blood pressure, dizziness, and unconsciousness. In the most extreme instance he has witnessed, medical professionals placed a youngster on a ventilator in the critical care unit due to his inability to breathe.
Every year, thousands of children are exposed to the liquid nicotine included in vapes, or electronic cigarettes. Even a few droplets can be deadly for a toddler.
Despite a 2016 statute, the Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act, requiring child-resistant packaging for vaping liquid bottles, cases of nicotine exposure related to vaping that were reported to poison centres reached an all-time high in 2022. The regulation does not mandate protective packaging for the devices themselves, which medical professionals view as a serious error.
Because refillable vapes are made to contain liquid nicotine in a central reservoir, children should not use them. Because the nicotine in vape pens is enclosed inside detachable cartridges, even devices that seem more child-resistant are nonetheless dangerous because the cartridges may be forced open. Furthermore, certain disposable e-cigarettes—which are now the most popular kind available—allow users to take thousands of “puffs” and have a nicotine content equivalent to several pack of cigarettes.
Many e-cigarettes and liquids have pastel packaging, names like “Candy King,” and flavours like bubble gum and blue raspberry that seem to be aimed towards children. Because of this, vapes are much more dangerous and seductive than regular cigarettes, which have lower nicotine concentrations and a harsh flavour that frequently causes kids to immediately spit them out.
Liquid nicotine is a recipe for disaster. It has a pleasant scent and is very concentrated.
An FDA investigation shows that since 2018, the number of reports about e-cigarettes to poison control centres has more than doubled. From April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023, poison control centres reported on almost 7,000 exposures of people of all ages due to vaping.
Sucking on a vape exposes children’s skin to nicotine, which can enter the circulation even if they do not inhale the aerosol, according to Robert Glatter, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Glatter pointed out that e-cigarette liquids also contain a host of other dangerous substances, such as carcinogens like formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, volatile organic compounds found in car exhaust, and poisonous substances like arsenic and lead, which are hazardous in any amount.
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