Nicotine danger for children
Trading standards freeze sale of refill cartridges
Published:
NICOTINE refills which have been on sale could be deadly to young children, it emerged last night.
Around 100 “electronic cigarettes”, designed to help people quit smoking, were bought in two months in Inverness before trading standards officers put an immediate freeze on their sale.
It followed an investigation which revealed that the amount of nicotine in each refill was potentially lethal to a small child.
In a warning issued to people who bought the product, Gordon Robb, Highland Council’s principal trading standards officer, urged them to keep the refills out of reach of children.
He said: “On the analysis we carried out, a single refill cartridge, which is small enough to be easily swallowed, was found to contain many times more nicotine than would be found in a cigarette.
“It contained enough that if swallowed could kill a young child.”
The products, which were also on sale on the internet, were immediately withdrawn following the intervention of trading standards officers.
Keith Webster, who runs All Points North where they were on sale, said he had tested the product to see if it would help him quit smoking before stocking the kits in “good faith”.
He said: “Nicotine is classed as a poison, which means the product must have some sort of child lock.”
Mr Robb added: “Neither the electronic cigarette nor the refill cartridges involved here are licensed and have therefore not had a formal safety assessment.
“The refill cartridge packaging bore none of the warnings, tactile labelling or child resistance that is legally required for such a toxic substance, making the safety risk that these products represent all the higher.”
The product was supplied by the Lancashire-based Electronic Cigarette Store.
A statement posted on the company’s website yesterday said: “Due to concerns shown from our local trading standards office we have suspended all sales of all E.Liquid type products due to their high nicotine content level.
“This high level of nicotine could endanger the life of a young child if swallowed.
“All customers who have previously purchased any of our E.Liquid products, please act responsibly and ensure that they are kept and stored away from children.”
