A 1-year-old boy in upstate New York died after he drank liquid nicotine from an e-cigarette.
WNYT reported that last Tuesday the child was found unresponsive and rushed to the hospital where he later died after swallowing the substance at his family’s home in Fort Plain.
The little boy’s death appears to be an accident. Authorities have said that the child drank the liquid from a refill.
ABC News noted that the popular e-cigs offer a variety of flavors, which could be appealing to a youngster.
"One teaspoon of liquid nicotine could be lethal to a child, and smaller amounts can cause severe illness, often requiring trips to the emergency department," the American Association of Poison Control Centers said in a statement. "Despite the dangers these products pose to children, there are currently no standards set in place that require child-proof packaging."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a study earlier this year that revealed in 2010 calls to the poison control centers for nicotine ingestion involving children was one per month. Last February, however, the number of calls increased to a staggering 215 per month.