The Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act of 2014, proposed by Sen Bill Nelson (D-FL) on July 10, would direct the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to require safer, child-proof packaging for liquid nicotine sold in refillable containers.
As a cancer control pediatrician, Dr. James Sargent at Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine and the Norris Cotton Cancer Center supports this legislation. Currently, the CPSC does not have the authority to require child-proof packaging on liquid nicotine containers used to refill e-cigarettes, even though these standards apply for prescription pill bottles and other toxic household substances like bleach. Liquid nicotine is perhaps the most toxic household substance sold in the U.S. without child-proof packaging requirements.
Fortunately, the Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act of 2014 allows and directs the CPSC to take quick action to require child-proof packaging on liquid nicotine containers sold to consumers. The most important principle to prevent poisoning is to distribute the poison in a child resistant bottle—a bottle engineered to be tough to open for children under five years.
Child poisonings from liquid nicotine are preventable, and the Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act of 2014 is a much-needed step to keeping children safe.
James Sargent, MDProfessor of Pediatrics, of Community and Family Medicine, of The Dartmouth Institute, Geisel School of Medicine at DartmouthCo-Director Cancer Control Research Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center
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