Comments on: E Juice? How long till it kills someone…

By: zap rowsdower

zap rowsdower — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 02:01:09 +0000

I agree with some of the comments above, in that there are many things that we partake of in our daily lives that aren’t great for us, but it all still comes down to choice. My uncle switched to e cigarettes and after some time passed, he actually began to smoke less. He still smokes, but he enjoys the e cigarettes.

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 16 May 2011 22:02:42 +0000

In all fairness I think a lot of these scare comments are probably from representatives of tobacco companies. Think of all the revenue they are already losing in regards to the e-cigarette. Think of how much more they will loose if it really catches on. The other thing is the government taxes on smoke products is a multi million dollar market. Don’t think that they want to let that go to easily, and it would be a little more than obvious if they just started taxing e-cigarettes like regular smokes. So the scare tactics is the most logical approach at this point.

Just my two bits.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:35:41 +0000

You make bold claims of conjecture to suggest that e-juice is some highly poisonous assassination tool. e-juice is not some atomic radioactive liquid you are making it out to be. There is no difference between it and any other liquid not intended to be consumed. your article is written as some kind of conspiracy theory and you claim to be a savior to stop people from dying as unsuspecting victims all of which have no validity or empirical validity. If you are claiming that someone HAS ALREADY died then provide the evidence of such. If you are trying to claim that someone DEFINITELY WILL die if no action is taken and wish to claim it is a direct result of e-juice being sold in this country. then make such a claim outright and do not merely suggest it in context. You know darn well if you made such a bold claim it would be disregarded outright as insanity which is why you carefully word it as a “could be” possibility only to invoke fear and impose your perspective of the debate. In your same logic I could make the claim of some dish soaps and hand lotions that are left on the kitchen and bathroom counter being a dangerous concentrated alkaline that can potentially harm adults and kill children if consumed or are continually sold without child proof caps and government regulation.
In reality, I suggest that there are people that believe that if they do not need it, then it is unnecessary. Add that to the instinctive disposition of (FIGHT OR FLIGHT) and you have people who will reach for any scenario where they are at risk. and will form a completely conjectural stance of victimization to give there fear a validation, and will then attempt to infect others with a mass hysteria to stand by them and fight for their cause and defend themselves, their friends, and their children from an impending doom. A doom of which was created by the imagination of the person who first took umbrage over an inanimate object that caused no threat by itself.

In essence it is an evolved version of how primitive cultures breathed life into a poltergeist or “cursed” relic. either out of mental boredom or to take blame off of themselves if the crops did not grow that year.

By: Penny

Penny — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:33:40 +0000

It would appear from his post that Patrick is labouring under the delusion that e-liquid is as lethal as raw nicotine. E-liquid is highly diluted and, to date, there have been no reports of users being harmed in any way from its use and certainly not as a result of spillage. Like Ralph, I’ve often spilled e-juice and simply wiped it off my hands and have suffered no ill effects whatsoever; I wonder how dangerous a similar spill involving a caustic drain cleaner would be. I have a cupboard full of potentially lethal substances the misuse of which would have far worse consequences than a tiny amount of nicotine diluted with a comparatively large amount of glycerine/distilled water/food flavouring.

E-cigarettes are intended to be used by adults who are perfectly able to take responsibilty for their actions and who do not require nannying. It seems it’s perfectly acceptable for me to buy tobacco products that, we are told, are known to killi hundreds of thousands and yet it is not OK for me to use an e-cigarette that, to date, has harmed no one. It is also perfectly OK for me to chew gum containing liquid nicotine, to stick patches on my arm that are impregnated with liquid nicotine, to spray liquid into my mouth that contains liquid nicotine and to suck on a plastic tube contaiining cartridges that dispense liquid nicotine directly into my mouth (and tasts disgusting) and yet to inhale a vapour containing liquid nicotine is frowned upon as nicotine might possibly harm me? Give me strength!

What is the REAL reason the e-cigarette is considered unacceptable?

For 44 years I smoked upwards of 30 cigarettes a day and since I took my first draw on an e-cigarette10 months ago, I haven’t touched tobacco; my dreadful cough has gone and I haven’t felt this good since I was a child so how is the e-cigarette bad for me?

By: Ralph

Ralph — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 23:21:01 +0000

Patrick, I’m an adult male weighing about 180 pounds and I’ve even spilt 36mg juice all over my hands before. I just went and got a tissue and wiped it off; I suffered no noticeable ill effects. I’ve also had a few drops of it leak out of a cartridge into my mouth (yuck).

It sounds like you’ve made an estimate based on the known toxicity of nicotine. But toxicity figures are expressed in terms of the amount actually *absorbed* into the body and I suspect you’ve forgotten to take account of the rate of absorption through the skin. So if you spilled 100% neat nicotine into an open wound perhaps that could cause ill effects, but maybe nicotine-spiked glycols aren’t absorbed through the skin of the hand quickly enough for brief skin contact with commercially-sold e-juice to pose a significant risk. At least, not to adults.

All forms of nicotine need to be treated with respect, stored carefully and kept out of the reach of children, but if e-juice was even a fraction as dangerous as you claim, there would surely have been many deaths already and it would have been all over the news.

Just keep it away from children.

By: patrick

patrick — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 05:18:17 +0000

It would take about 2/5 a teaspoon of 18mg/ml e-juice to kill an adult through skin contact, about 10 drops for a child. If you have it and kids you should lock it up since a spill can be deadly. It does not have to be ingested.

By: QG

QG — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:36:49 +0000

We had a warning message from Dr Murray Laugeson. Dr Laugesson is a highly respected scientist who has done as much as anyone in support of the electronic cigarettes. In the warning he advises people to avoid nicotine juice. He also pointed out to us privately that it would take just one incident with a child and that would be the end of e-cigarettes.

(You can read his full warning here: http://www.healthnz.co.nz/ecigarette.htm)

Despite the aggression of some of these people, I can't really believe they would want a kid to die, even if their parents were stupid enough to leave e-juice lying around, but maybe from a selfish point of view they would consider that it would only take one stupid parent to put an end to e-smoking.

It's also great that the better manufacturers now provide warnings and safe bottles, as we do with refills. However, there are still many dodgy manufacturers and suppliers out there who are only interested in a quick profit.

By: Tara

Tara — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:22:54 +0000

Good point about no childproofing on cigarette packs. And just as important, no warnings about ingestion on the packs either.
I can't tell you the number of times my baby daughter got a hold of cigarettes and started eating them. Call me stupid, but I never really even put 2+2 together re. the potential nicotine poisoning.

The nicotine juice I bought for my e-cigs is the first place I've even seen such a warning.

My kids are older now and a bit wiser, and so am I. I am glad to see the warning on the nicotine juice bottles because it made me aware of the danger.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:33:00 +0000

I would no more over indulge on an ecig than I would on a tobacco cigarette. Everybody’s nicotine tolerance/habit varies. When users body reaches an acceptable dosage of Nicotine, your brain says, “ok, I’ve had enough for now, I am satisfied”.
Would I smoke a whole pack of tobacco in one sitting?, of course not. It would make me physically sick. Same holds true to an ecigarette. Many people who do not have a Nicotine habit, seem to look at this in an non-logical view. You can’t vape an extra amount of ecig, and then just suddenly die, that concept is ridiculous. As with tobacco, you get physically sick first.
Even if the amount of Nicotine in cartridges were controlled, what would stop me from inhaling 4 or five instead of just one? People need to look at this with common sense!
Responsible adults, should have every right to make their own decisions as with any drug. whether it be tobacco, alcohol, prescribtion drugs….etc,etc, etc.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:55:00 +0000

Intersting debate! Is it difficult to measure the exact quantity desired into the e-cig cartridge though? The cartridges I have come iwth a meaured acceptable “dosage”