(Sweden) Nicotine poisoning rockets mid e-cig battle

Liquid and vapour nicotine is becoming a household poison, with a tenfold increase in cases of e-cigarette poisoning in Sweden, including children who drink the refills.

Twenty-nine cases of nicotine poisoning specifically from electronic igarettes were reported this year in Sweden, nearly a tenfold increase from last year's three incidents. A third of the reported cases were children, the Swedish Poison Information Centre (SPIC) stated.

...

E-cigarettes, or e-cigs, are made to look like real cigarettes but instead contain a battery, small heater, and liquid known as smoke juice. The liquid is heated into a vapour which the user then inhales. The liquid usually contains nicotine, but not always.

The sale of smoke juice containing nicotine is banned in Sweden, but it can still be ordered online and has a growing street market. Since it is the vapour that users inhale, the liquid inside of the e-cig is extremely concentrated - and quickly becomes lethal.

"The concentration of nicotine in a 10 milliletre bottle (of smoke juice) is so strong it can kill a small child," Ivarsson said.

http://www.thelocal.se/20131230/sweden-child-nicotine-poison-ecigarettes-increase