Number of children under-5 being poisoned by vaping has TRIPLED since 2018

Vaping is poisoning young children at an alarming rate, an official report suggests.

The number of children under the age of five in America who got sick from e-cigarettes this year is about three times higher than in 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration looked at the year-long reports to the National Poison Data System and found that there are 6,074 accidental exposures to e-cigarettes among 5-year-olds reported in 2023 compared to 1,836 in 2018.

Inhalation through the mouth and nose is the primary means of accidental vapor exposure, while swallowing the nicotine-rich liquid comes second.

Children who see adults vaping are very likely to mimic their actions and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults store their devices more carefully to avoid poisoning

Usually, calls to poison centers about dangerous vapor exposure have ruled out the brand names of the devices in question, but the most commonly cited brand was Elf Bar, a mega-popular disposable device available in nicotine concentrations as high as five percent.

In the time between April 2022 and March 2023, more than 87 percent of reports to U.S. poison centers of hazardous exposure to e-cigarettes involved young children,

In 2018, nearly two-thirds of reports of accidental vaping exposure were in children under the age of five, for a total of approximately 1,836.

More than 60 percent of reports to poison control centers involved Eleven Bars, and of that total, a whopping 90 percent involved children under the age of five.

Swelling rates of e-cigarette poisonings in the form of inhalation, ingestion, skin contact, and eye contact suggest that older users may not be careful enough to store their devices or keep an adequate eye on their little ones.

The majority of all poisonings — 61 percent — were from inhalation, while 40 percent were from ingestion.

Three and a half percent of the poisonings involved skin contact with the nicotine in vapors, while one percent involved eye exposure.

The devices are also designed to look sleek and harmless, greatly increasing their chances of capturing the interest of a young, unsuspecting child.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said: “Ongoing surveillance is critical to guiding efforts to prevent exposure to e-cigarette poisoning, especially in young children.

“Adult e-cigarette users should keep their e-cigarettes and e-liquids safe to prevent access by young children.”

Despite the alarming rise in the number of reports, this does not necessarily mean that the child has been hospitalized or needs further medical care.

Overall, 0.6 percent of hazardous exposures — just 43 cases — resulted in a person being hospitalized by anyone, while 8.3 percent, or 582 cases, required treatment at a doctor’s office or clinic.

However, the CDC report did not specify how old each hospitalized or medically treated patient was, and the agency looked broadly at poisoning rates in people of all ages, from under five to 25 and older.

While the exact age breakdowns are not known, it is likely that the lion’s share of poisonings that resulted in necessary medical treatment occurred in children, as highly potent e-liquids would do the most damage to a young body naive to nicotine.

Matthew Myers, president of the anti-smoking advocacy group Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids told DailyMail.com: ‘As these products deliver ever higher levels of nicotine, they become more and more dangerous to a very young child who accidentally gets hold of one. .

“What we have is that these products are easily accessible to people of all ages, but because they now deliver such high levels of nicotine, the potential risks to a toddler just logically increase.”

And it’s not just the US seeing alarming increases in accidental exposure to vapes among young children.

In Australia, reports to poison control centers in New South Wales, the number of toddlers aged one to four who have been poisoned by vape devices has risen from 42 in 2020 to 127 in 2021, while children aged five to 14 have increased from 9 to 14 in the same period. 27 have gone.

In 2019, an Australian baby died after reportedly being exposed to toxic levels of liquid nicotine from an e-cigarette.

Just one milliliter of liquid nicotine concentrate is enough to kill a child if swallowed, inhaled or splashed in their eyes, the coroner reported.