Victorian baby dies after being poisoned by liquid nicotine from an e-cigarette

A Victorian baby has died after being exposed to liquid nicotine from an e-cigarette, raising fears about the safety of the increasingly popular vaping devices.

A baby has died after being exposed to liquid nicotine from an e-cigarette, raising fears about the safety of the increasingly popular vaping devices.

The tragedy comes amid escalating cases of children and adults being poisoned by vaping liquid — including nicotine e-cigarette vials that are supposed to be outlawed in Australia.

The Victorian coroner is investigating the infant’s recent death and groups including Safer Care Victoria, the Royal Children’s Hospital and Kidsafe have been asked to find measures to combat the emerging danger.

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While the coroner’s office and other bodies investigating the death refuse to provide any details, sources have confirmed the infant’s death was directly related to the ingestion of the liquid nicotine.

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

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

There are calls for tougher testing on e-cigarettes after a Victorian baby’s death.

Quit Victoria is demanding Australian governments crack down on e-cigarette companies flouting anti-nicotine regulations and mandate childproof packaging to prevent further deaths and the 70-plus poisonings the occur each year.

“The big concern with the poisonings is the significant increase over the last two or three years — it is a real problem,” Quit Victoria director Dr Sarah White said.

“Leaving aside any argument or discussion about smoking cessation or harm reduction, what we really need to happen is some basic consumer safety standards around these liquids.

“If it is consumer affairs that is not acting, then they need to act.

An e-cigarette with nicotine liquid.

“We need to have childproof packaging, we need to have packaging that is not attractive to children, and state and territory governments have a responsibility to test these liquids that purportedly don’t contain nicotine to make sure they don’t.”

The Herald Sun understands Victoria’s healthcare watchdog Safer Care Victoria has also been notified of the death of the young child and is now working on ways to better communicate the dangers liquid nicotine poses to children.

The use of e-cigarettes, or vaping, remains a controversial issue within Australia’s health circles. While many doctors and researchers back their use as smoking-cessation aids, others oppose their legalisation, claiming they are yet to be proved to be safe or effective.

Nicotine-free flavoured e-cigarette capsules can be sold in Australia, however those containing nicotine are considered a poison and are outlawed, though in some cases people with a doctor’s prescription can import of a small amount of liquid nicotine for personal use.

An investigation by West Australian researchers published in the Medical Journal of Australia last month found six out of 10 liquids labelled as “nicotine‐free” actually contained nicotine.

The study follows earlier NSW health department data that revealed seven out of 10 supposedly “non-nicotine” e-cigarette liquids actually contained the dangerous poison.

An analysis of calls to Poisons Information Centres across Australia between 2009-16 revealed there were 70 poisonings from e-cigarettes in 2016 — double the number from 2013 and almost 60 per cent higher than in 2015.

There are calls for tougher testing on e-cigarettes after a Victorian baby’s death.

The research, lead by Carol Wylie from the Queensland Poisons Information Centre and published in the Medical Journal of Australia last week, found 76 of the 202 e-cigarette poisoning victims were children, including 62 toddlers.

Ms Wylie found the poisonings came after children were found with uncapped e-cigarette vials, had sucked on the devices’ mouthpiece, drank or inhaled from liquid containers, eaten the cartridge or splashed liquid in their eyes.

Almost all of the children exposed to nicotine e‐cigarette liquid required hospitalisation, though most patients had only mild symptoms, such as gastrointestinal disturbances.

“The potential risks, however, should not be underestimated; we are aware that an infant recently died in Australia after ingesting a concentrated nicotine solution,” Ms Wylie found.

Dr White said state and territory governments have an immediate responsibility to actively monitor vaping liquids being sold in Australia to ensure they did not contain nicotine.

“We need to start testing these things on the marked because they are importing an illegal poison,” she said.

“If think the liquid you are using doesn’t have nicotine in it, and you child gets hold of it, you think ‘it’s OK, it’s only flavouring’, there is potential disaster there.”

Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the sale of non-prescription liquid nicotine is banned in Victoria because it a dangerous product.

“Whilst we won’t preempt any coronial investigation into this child’s tragic death we are aware of cases of children dying from ingesting liquid nicotine overseas,” she said.

“I have asked Safer Care Victoria to develop public health messages to alert the public to the extreme risk liquid nicotine presents to children, and to contact the TGA regarding regulating the import of such products.”

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