Ever since they hit the market, e-cigarettes have proven themselves to be controversial products. Most of the discussions regarding e-cigarettes revolve around the health impacts of using them directly, and more recently the concern has focused on the rise of teen smoking as a result of the “cool” allure of “vaping.” However, a lesser realized e-cigarette threat relates to the product packaging currently in use for liquid nicotine.
According to Forbes, e-cigarette poisonings for children five and under have increased 1,500 percent in just a three year period. This is a startling and unsettling statistic made worse by the study’s report that, “about four out of every five of those e-cigarette exposures involve a child ingesting the product, such as swallowing the nicotine liquid.”
Until January 2016, the e-cigarette market was unregulated, leading companies to product liquid nicotine products in flavors like “Cap’n Crunch” and “Sprite” without any child-proof safety measures at all. This obviously dangerous combination contributed to the sharp spike in poisonings and helped the Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act pass at the beginning of the year. All liquid nicotine bottles are now required to use child-resistant packaging, which will hopefully help the number of poisonings significantly decrease.
There are multiple forms of child resistant packaging that are time tested to work efficiently. The first child-proof locking closure was created nearly 50 years ago by a doctor, and in the last half century his innovation has been further developed to keep the children in our country safe. All packages must undergo a performance test with real children to determine if the safety measures are effective. The CPSC even offers a list of firms that specifically work with companies to conduct tests on child-resistant packaging. Hundreds of different designs now exist, offering packaging companies a wide variety of options.