Children Poisoned by E-cigarette Fluid Every 3 Hours

According to an analysis of calls to the National Poison Data System published in the journal Pediatrics, the number of children under 6 poisoned by nicotine in e-cigarettes rose by nearly 1,500% between 2013 and 2015, and one child died. More than 90% of the children swallowed the nicotine-laced liquid that's smoked inside e-cigarettes. The liquid is known as e-juice. Nearly half of the exposed children were under the age of 2. The number of children exposed to e-cigarette products each month rose from 14 in January 2012 to 223 in April 2015. The study's senior author Dr. Gary Smith said, "On average, every three hours, a poison center receives a call about a young child exposed to an e-cigarette or liquid nicotine." Smith is the director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He aded that the numbers of accidental poisonings skyrocketed because of the explosive popularity of e-cigarettes. Their use among U.S. adults doubled between 2010 and 2013. It has tripled among high school students from 2013 to 2014. Total sales are predicted to top $10 million by 2017.