New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced on Tuesday, June 23, that four companies that manufacture liquid nicotine have concurred with the NY law pertaining to the inadequate packaging of their products.
Two of the four companies sell their products online or through local retail outlets while the two other companies, namely Henley Vaporium and Beyond Vape, have retail stores in New York.
The scope of the agreement includes necessitating the companies to take away all their liquid nicotine products that are not packaged according to child-resistant standards from their distributors and retailers; banning the companies from selling non-child-resistant containers in the future; training retail store staff about the New York legislation, including prompt reporting of any violation to the Attorney General's Office; providing evidence of container testings; and, lastly, paying due penalties to the New York State.
"New York law is clear: liquid nicotine is highly toxic and must be sold in child-resistant packaging," said Schneiderman. "Today, we are taking action against four companies, and putting others on notice: Stop selling liquid nicotine in anything but child-resistant containers, or we will come after you."
Schneiderman also encourages the federal government to participate in this endeavor by applying child-friendly standards in liquid nicotine containers and regulating how e-cigarettes are marketed nationwide.
The first case of child mortality due to liquid nicotine intoxication is an 18-month-old boy from upstate New York, who ingested the toxic substance back in 2014. The American Association of Poison Control Centers received more than 3,700 liquid nicotine exposure reports nationwide in 2014.
Fifty percent of the reports involved children under five years old. This urged the submission of a New York legislation in June 2014 that required all liquid nicotine to be sold in packages that are hard to open for children. The bill was signed and made into law in December 2014.
Liquid nicotine, which is made from nicotine tobacco extracts, is added to other chemical substances to create vapor that electronic cigarette users inhale. Liquid nicotine is toxic; ingestion or even skin exposure may result in side effects such as high blood pressure, increased heartbeat, nausea, vomiting, confusion, dizziness, diarrhea, seizures, coma or even death.
Authorities are also concerned about the different flavors that these liquid nicotine companies have come up with for their products. Child-appealing flavors packaged in non-child-friendly containers such as Vaperlicious Passion Peach and Vaporboy Berry Peached Tea from Beyond Vape and Cosmic Charlie's Chalk Dust from Henley are found to be available for retail.
Beyond Vape announced in the homepage of their website that they are offering free child-resistant containers or a full refund to all customers who bought liquid nicotine in New York after Dec. 29, 2014.
The action was unfair, according to Peter Denholtz, chief executive and owner of Henley Vaporium, who claimed that investigators arrived at his store without his knowledge that the law was already in effect. Majority of the Henley bottles come in child-resistant containers but the older stocks do not. Denholtz hoped that the attorney general had informed retailers about the new law. They instead received a subpoena.
Photo: Ecig Click | Flickr
