Safety

http://www.kplctv.com/story/32333152/1500-increase-in-children-poisoned-by-liquid-nicotine

The growing popularity of e-cigarettes and vaping has led to an enormous increase in children being poisoned by liquid nicotine. Calls to poison control centers have increased by 1,500 percent over the past three years, according to a recently released report in the medical journal, Pediatrics.

Pediatrician Anatole Karpovs with The Children’s Clinic of Southwest Louisiana is sounding the alarm about these lurking dangers.

He says liquid nicotine can come in fruit and candy flavors and packaged in bright colors that are especially appealing to children. Combine that visual temptation with easy access and the result for children can be dangerous poisoning, according to Dr. Karpovs.

“They are not put in child safety containers and they are oftentimes very colorful, they are flavored, and so it can be very, very attractive to a young child who sees this out in the open.”

Researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Center for Injury Research and Policy analyzed calls from the National Poison Data System from 2012 to 2015. It showed more than half of those ingesting liquid nicotine were under the age of six.

“They’re not safe,” said Dr. Karpovs. “The children oftentimes get stomach pain and vomiting. They are often referred to emergency room centers or secondary care centers.”

E-cigarettes and vaping products have been touted as a good thing by some, compared with tobacco-burning cigarettes. But Dr. Karpovs says there is no evidence to support they are actually safer and liquid nicotine is still highly addictive.

“Vaping has been presented to people as being somehow less dangerous than cigarette smoking. There’s just no evidence that’s the case,” said Dr. Karpovs.

The National Poison Data System shows an average of 729 children ingest, inhale, or absorb liquid nicotine through the skin or eyes every month.

Dr. Karpovs says if you have tobacco or nicotine products in your home, keep them far away from children.

“Just like any medicine or any kind of dangerous chemical, put it up out of the way of the children, lock it away and do not give them the temptation to get into it,” he said.

Starting in August, the Food and Drug Administration will start regulating electronic nicotine delivery systems. That includes e-cigarettes, vape pens, cigars, hookah tobacco, pipe tobacco, and nicotine gel.

http://fox59.com/2016/06/09/doctors-warn-of-e-cigarettes-causing-leg-burns/

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Doctors at The Richard M. Fairbanks Burn Center at Eskenazi Health are sending out a warning to electronic cigarette users after an increase in patients with burns on their legs after leaving the devices in pants pockets.

In the last six months, doctors at Eskenazi Health have treated at least three patients with second and third degree burns. Doctors said all of the patients had an e-cigarette in their pocket, along with change.

Doctors believe the battery in the device is reacting with metal change, causing patients pants to catch on fire and leaving them with serious burns.

Some patients have spent more than six days in the hospital, recovering from the burns.

“They’ve had very significant injuries to their thighs requiring sometimes multiple stage surgery, but certainly skin grafting from those burns,” explained Dr. Rajiv Sood.

At Indy E Cigs, experts said there are many safety nets in place to ensure people don’t get burned, but it’s important for the user to follow those directions.

“You’re gonna smell it. You’re gonna hear it. You’re gonna feel it. It’s the user that ultimately needs to be aware of what’s going on,” said Indy E-Cig founder, Shadi Khoury. “We recommend that you try not to put them in your pocket, that would be the fix all here.”

Doctors at Eskenazi are so concerned about this issue, they’re publishing an article on the topic. It will likely be shared with hospitals across the country.

Device’s shape and lithium batteries can make it act “like a small rocket”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-s-causing-e-cigarettes-trail-of-injuries/

An electronic cigarette exploded in the face of a man in Albany, New York, recently, leaving him with a hole his tongue and burns on his hand, CNN reported. The explosion also knocked out several of the man’s teeth.

But this is far from the first injury caused by an exploding e-cigarette, or e-cig.

The battery-powered devices work by heating a liquid, which typically contains nicotine as well as other chemicals, into a vapor that a user then inhales. But the lithium-ion battery that heats the liquid within an e-cig poses a big safety risk: The batteries have the potential to explode, Dr. Michael Siegel, a tobacco researcher and professor of community health sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health, told Live Science recently.

Last month, a teen in New York City was hospitalized after an e-cig exploded while he was testing it out in a store, according to CBS News. The explosion damaged both of the teen’s eyes.

And in November 2015, an e-cig explosion left a Tennessee man potentially paralyzed, the Huffington Post reported. The explosion fractured the man’s vertebrae and bones in his face, and knocked out a tooth.

In July 2015, a young man in Alabama was airlifted to a hospital and placed on a ventilator after an e-cig blew up in his face. In addition to first-degree burns on his face and chest, the explosion left the young man with a hole in the roof of his mouth that made it difficult for him to eat, according to AOL News.

And earlier last year, a man’s exploding e-cig was powerful enough to shatter glass in the Southern California store he was in, NBC Los Angeles reported. After the blast, the man was rushed to the University of California San Diego Burn Center for treatment.

Why e-cigs explode

In a 2014 report, the U.S. Fire Administration examined e-cig explosions between 2009 and 2014. Lithium-ion batteries in other devices such as cellphones and laptops have also been known to cause fires, the report said. But the design of e-cigs—with their cylindrical shape, and the weakest structural point at their ends—makes these devices more likely than others to explode if the battery fails, according to the report.

The fires start in the battery. While all batteries contain electrolyte solutions (this is an essential part of how they work), the solutions used in lithium-ion batteries are different from those in regular batteries because they are flammable, the report said.

In a lithium-ion battery, the solution can become overheated, reach its boiling point and then rapidly expand and catch fire, causing the battery to explode, according to the report. Laptops and other devices have rigid plastic cases that prevent an exploding battery from doing much damage. But in an e-cig, the explosion can lead the cylindrical container of the device to explode, too, causing the device to “be propelled across the room like a bullet or small rocket,” the report said.

Device’s shape and lithium batteries can make it act “like a small rocket”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-s-causing-e-cigarettes-trail-of-injuries/

An electronic cigarette exploded in the face of a man in Albany, New York, recently, leaving him with a hole his tongue and burns on his hand, CNN reported. The explosion also knocked out several of the man’s teeth.

But this is far from the first injury caused by an exploding e-cigarette, or e-cig.

The battery-powered devices work by heating a liquid, which typically contains nicotine as well as other chemicals, into a vapor that a user then inhales. But the lithium-ion battery that heats the liquid within an e-cig poses a big safety risk: The batteries have the potential to explode, Dr. Michael Siegel, a tobacco researcher and professor of community health sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health, told Live Science recently.

Last month, a teen in New York City was hospitalized after an e-cig exploded while he was testing it out in a store, according to CBS News. The explosion damaged both of the teen’s eyes.

And in November 2015, an e-cig explosion left a Tennessee man potentially paralyzed, the Huffington Post reported. The explosion fractured the man’s vertebrae and bones in his face, and knocked out a tooth.

In July 2015, a young man in Alabama was airlifted to a hospital and placed on a ventilator after an e-cig blew up in his face. In addition to first-degree burns on his face and chest, the explosion left the young man with a hole in the roof of his mouth that made it difficult for him to eat, according to AOL News.

And earlier last year, a man’s exploding e-cig was powerful enough to shatter glass in the Southern California store he was in, NBC Los Angeles reported. After the blast, the man was rushed to the University of California San Diego Burn Center for treatment.

Why e-cigs explode

In a 2014 report, the U.S. Fire Administration examined e-cig explosions between 2009 and 2014. Lithium-ion batteries in other devices such as cellphones and laptops have also been known to cause fires, the report said. But the design of e-cigs—with their cylindrical shape, and the weakest structural point at their ends—makes these devices more likely than others to explode if the battery fails, according to the report.

The fires start in the battery. While all batteries contain electrolyte solutions (this is an essential part of how they work), the solutions used in lithium-ion batteries are different from those in regular batteries because they are flammable, the report said.

In a lithium-ion battery, the solution can become overheated, reach its boiling point and then rapidly expand and catch fire, causing the battery to explode, according to the report. Laptops and other devices have rigid plastic cases that prevent an exploding battery from doing much damage. But in an e-cig, the explosion can lead the cylindrical container of the device to explode, too, causing the device to “be propelled across the room like a bullet or small rocket,” the report said.