KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s on the market to help smokers kick the habit, but one organization warns that liquid nicotine could have unintended, larger health issues. A child safety organization is sounding the alarm after hearing that liquid nicotine could be responsible for a child’s death in New York.
It is still not clear if that liquid nicotine is what killed the child, it’s only suspected right now, but the child was found unresponsive after drinking a bottle of liquid nicotine sold it many smoke shops.
Liquid nicotine can come in colorful bottles that some say mimic candy and toys, and easily draw the attention of young eyes. Child safety advocates are most concerned because they say right now there are no FDA regulations on warning labels and age restrictions, or even how much nicotine can be in each bottle.
There’s also nothing requiring the companies to put childproof caps on the bottles. That is why the executive director of child safety group Charlie’s House says it is up to parents and caregivers to keep these out of the hands of children.
“It makes me really scared for young children, and so our advice to parents, grandparents and caregivers is to treat this like a poison, treat it like a drug. Lock it up and be very careful with these little bottles of nicotine,” said John McCarthy.
The Centers for Disease Control says it takes only about 60 milligrams of nicotine to kill an adult who is a 150 pounds. Some refill packs for liquid nicotine contain as much as 72 milligrams.
Even though there’s no federal regulations on keeping bottles of liquid nicotine child proof, McCarthy says he was pleasantly surprised when he visited a local store that has decided to add warning labels and child safe tops.
