Sun Sentinel

By Susannah Bryan

March 16, 2015, 3:22 PM | PLANTATION

— Chocolate and dulce de leche. Cotton candy and gummy bear. Cherry and grape.

Liquid nicotine comes in cool flavors that sound like candy, but it's a vaping cocktail that can kill if swallowed by a small child fascinated by the groovy packaging.

That was the message from poison experts and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who held a press conference Monday at Andover Academy in Plantation to warn parents about the lethal danger lurking in e-cigarette refill cartridges.

"We need parents to be aware," said Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston. "We're trying to sound the alarm bell."

The number of people ingesting the potentially poisonous liquid has spiked nationwide, local poison centers say.

Last year, nearly 4,000 people across the country were exposed to liquid nicotine — more than twice as many as the previous year, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. This year already, more than 300 people have been exposed, many of them toddlers. Some needed trips to the emergency room.

In December, a one-year-old boy from upstate New York died after swallowing liquid nicotine.

"One death is one too many," said Wasserman Schultz, who plans to co-sponsor a bill this year to require child safety packaging for liquid nicotine containers. "The more e-cigarettes are being used, the more we have to make sure the packing is safe."

The federal government does not currently require child-resistant packaging for liquid nicotine containers, a relatively new product on the market. The Consumer Production Safety Commission requires child-proof packaging on hazardous household products. Liquid nicotine should be no exception, Wasserman Schultz said.

A child exposed to even a small amount of liquid nicotine can become seriously ill, said Dr. Jeffrey Bernstein, medical director at the Florida Poison Information Center. The potentially fatal symptoms might include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures and even coma.

The stuff doesn't have to be swallowed to unleash its damage. It can also enter the bloodstream by penetrating the skin, said Lenys Klumpp, a spokeswoman for the Florida Poison Information Center in Miami.

"It's not like spilling a glass of wine," Klumpp said. "If it spills on your skin, you are exposed to the nicotine."

Children exposed to liquid nicotine may have to be put on life support until the substance wears off, Bernstein said.

"We don't have a specific antidote," Bernstein said.

It can take hours for the sickening effects of liquid nicotine to end, Bernstein said, depending on the size of the child and how much nicotine was swallowed.

Experts urge adults who use e-cigarettes to keep refill cartridges out of the reach of children and pets.

If you or your child has been exposed to liquid nicotine, call the poison center at 800-222-1222.