More than a dozen South Aussies poisoned by liquid nicotine in the last year

More than a dozen South Australians have reported being poisoned by liquid nicotine from vapes or e-cigarettes as parents are warned just a drop can be fatal.

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More than a dozen South Australians, including nine young children, have been exposed to dangerous levels of nicotine by drinking liquid from e-cigarettes or vapes, and authorities warn that the number could be substantially higher.

Figures obtained by The Advertiser from the Poisons Information Advisory Service show that there have been 15 cases of poisonings directly related to e-cigarettes or vapes between November 2018 and October 2019.

Five of the cases were adults, three of which involved liquid nicotine splashing into eyes, another where it made contact with skin and one which was ingested.

A child older than five was taken to hospital for ingesting the liquid.

The figures show that nine children had been referred to hospital after sucking on the end of a vaporiser or accessing refill bottles.

An SA health spokeswoman said there could have been additional exposures which would not be included in the data if the non-nicotine exposure had been coded in a different way.

Department for Health and Wellbeing’s Chief Public Health Officer, Associate Professor Nicola Spurrier said the majority of calls to the Poisons Information Advisory Service advised children.

“National data has shown that these incidents are increasing Australia-wide and the full extent of potential nicotine poisonings may be higher as people may have been taken straight to hospital without the incident being reported through Poisons Information Centres,” Assoc Prof Spurrier said.

“Nicotine poisoning is potentially fatal.

“As with any product that potentially contains nicotine, E-cigarette vaporisers, equipment and liquids must be kept out of reach of children.”

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In July this year the Victorian State Coroner released a report into the case of an 18-month-old child who died after ingesting the highly concentrated nicotine liquid.

The Coroner found that the death was the cause of a “momentary lapse of vigilance” by the child’s mother, rather than negligence.

The mother had started vaping nicotine to wean herself of traditional cigarettes.

The Victorian incident follows the 2013 death of a two-year-old Israeli girl and the 2014 death of a one-year-old child in the US.

The ingestion of a single millilitre of concentrated liquid nicotine can be deadly if drunk, inhaled or splashed in the eyes of the a child.

There have been no reported deaths as a result of liquid nicotine in South Australia.