Shock number of Victorian kids under four poisoned by vapes

Data from Victoria’s poisons centre reveals a shocking number of child vape poisonings, including babies and kids under four.

Final Kellie Sloane Opinion column artwork. The proliferation of e-cigarette use and vaping among children and teens is leading to a new epidemic of nicotine addiction. By Terry Pontikos

More than 50 children under the age of four, including eight babies aged less than 12 months old, have been exposed to potentially toxic vapes in the past year, according to Victoria’s poisons hotline.

The Herald Sun can reveal calls to the Victorian Poisons Information Centre about poisoning from e-cigarettes have surged by 232 per cent in four years, from 31 in 2018 to 103 in 2021.

Alarmingly, of the more than 100 calls last year 51 cases related to children under the age of four, with eight in babies less than one years of age.

There were 81 cases related to accidental exposure, across all age groups.

Calls to the Victorian Poisons Information Centre about poisoning from e-cigarettes have surged by 232 per cent in four years. Picture: AFP

Royal Children’s Hospital Paediatrician and poll director Dr Anthea Rhodes said the hospital had seen cases of nicotine ingestion in infants and toddlers over the past few years.

“Some of those children have been very sick and required intensive care and there has been at least one death from the ingestion of nicotine,” Dr Rhodes said.

It was revealed in 2019 the state coroner was investigating the death of an infant who died after ingesting liquid nicotine.

“Parents and older siblings in households need to be aware that nicotine is registered as a poison if it’s swallowed.

“Nicotine concentration levels are often very high in pods of vaping liquid or vape juice and ingestion of even a small amount of that liquid can be very toxic for infants and children and if that happens it is an emergency.”

Dr Rhodes said one of the “biggest challenges” was the lack of regulation surrounding vape products.

“In many instances these products are not in childproof packaging and pose a very serious risk to infants.”

In Victoria, it is illegal for e-cigarettes – also known as “vapes” – to be sold to anyone aged under 18 years.

While adults are free to buy and use e-cigarettes, vapes containing nicotine require a prescription.

On October 1 last year, Australian Border Force gained the power to intercept packages of nicotine vapes, pods and liquid nicotine, with e-cigarettes being regarded as a Schedule 4 medicine.

One of the biggest challenges is lack of regulation surrounding vape products say experts.

Australian Medical Association Victoria president Roderick McRae said the surge in calls was “extremely concerning”.

“Parents of high school students are very alarmed about the chemicals in vapes and frankly nobody knows what’s in them and even if there is a label, nobody knows about the quality control to say that the label is accurate to the content,” Dr McRae said.

“We’re aware of reports of a product saying it has no nicotine, but it’s actually riddled with nicotine.

“The poisoning is from careless securing of the products whether that’s in the supermarket, family home or supermarket shelves.

“In these cases, it’s most likely that a child has been attracted to the colourful packaging and accessed the contents and presumably swallowed it.”

Cancer Council chief executive Victoria Todd Harper said QUIT was incredibly concerned about the harm to children caused by exposure to e-cigarettes.

“It’s just tragic to hear about infants and toddlers ingesting e-liquids,” he said.

“Currently Australia is flooded with illegal imports of vaping products and much of the e-cigarette marketing targets children. We know vaping in the school system is a serious problem.

E-cigarettes have been found to contain up to 200 chemicals, heavy metals and tiny particles that can lodge in the lungs. Picture: Supplied

“E-cigarettes liquids have been found to contain up to 200 chemicals, heavy metals, and tiny particles can lodge in the lungs.”

A state government spokesman said: “The Victorian Government is continuing Victoria’s strong history of tobacco and e-cigarette reforms and success in reducing the harms from tobacco and e-cigarettes in our community – we look forward to continuing to work with the Commonwealth and experts on the best ways to achieve that.”

“We are currently developing options for strengthening compliance and enforcement of existing laws and continue to fund agencies like Quit and VicHealth that work to improve the awareness within our community of the potential health impacts from vaping,” the spokesman said.