A toddler in New York has died after drinking from a bottle which is thought to contain liquid nicotine. The bottle was used as a refill for e-cigarettes. This latest development changes a lot of our perception about how these liquid nicotine products are marketed and presented.
The incident took place at a home in Fort Plain, New York last Tuesday. An ambulance call was received from the neighborhood due to reports of an unresponsive child. The child was taken to the Hospital immediately but was pronounced dead short while after. The local police described the incident as a tragic accident.
Sgt Austin Ryan of the Fort Plain police confirmed that the child had indeed drunk from a glass bottle containing liquid nicotine that did not have a child-proof cap. But he did not affirm that the bottle in question here was used to refill e-cigarettes.
The death of a child has created a huge backlash in the state especially after the local assembly and senate have already passed a bill to ensure child resistant containers on liquid nicotine.
The thing that is most striking is that these flavored liquid nicotine bottles are marketed just like fruit juices and also are quite catchy on the eye especially for toddlers. Well the American Association of Poison Control centers expressed concern that there are “currently no standards set in place that require child-proof packaging”.
CDC has said that 16 million children across 10 states including District of Columbia have legal access to electronic cigarettes as well. While 40 states have banned e-cigarette sales to those deemed under-age since 2010.
