Illinois PTA has covered the dangers of e-cigarettes for children, and beginning January 1, 2015, there is a new law in Illinois to help protect children from accessing e-cigarettes. The new law requires e-cigarettes for sale to be behind the counter or in a sealed display case to keep them out of the hands of children.
The law also addresses the potential poisoning of children who may drink liquid nicotine from refill bottles, requiring the bottles to be childproof. While the bottles of nicotine, which are flavored and have appealing aromas for children, are relatively small, the nicotine concentration in the bottle is often close to the lethal dose for young children of 65 pounds or more. Poison control centers across the country have reported an exponential increase in calls related to child poisoning from e-cigarette’s nicotine liquids. The American Association of Poison Control Centers reports that reports of exposure to liquid nicotine and e-cigarette devices tripled between 2012 and 2013, and have doubled again between 2013 and 2014.