All cigarettes are dangerous

E-cigarettes are becoming popular. But they can be even more dangerous than tobacco cigarettes since they contain powerful neurotoxins, tiny amounts of which can cause vomiting and seizures and even be lethal. 

The neurotoxins come in liquid form and are not regulated by federal authorities. They are mixed on factory floors and in the back rooms of shops, and sold legally in stores and online in small bottles that are kept casually around the house for regular refilling of e-cigarettes. 

The number of accidental poisonings is on the increase, particularly among children. Of the 74 e-cigarette and nicotine poisoning cases called into Minnesota poison control in 2013, 29 involved children age 2 and under. In Oklahoma, all but two of the 25 cases in the first two months of this year involved children age 4 and under. 

Poison control centers report that the number of cases linked to e-liquids jumped to 1,351 in 2013, a 300 percent increase from 2012, and the number is on pace to double this year, according to information from the National Poison Data System. Of the cases in 2013, 365 were referred to hospitals, triple the previous year’s number.