Vaping Hit by Double Tragedy
Two tragic events have occurred in the last seven days, but that shouldn’t detract from the lives vaping is saving from tobacco-related harm
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by Dave Cross
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It is being reported from Australia that an infant has lost its life following exposure to liquid nicotine. The coroner’s office in Victoria is looking into the death after it was exposed to lethal levels of nicotine.
An article in the Herald Sun says that although nicotine is banned in Australia, it can be purchased from overseas suppliers. The coroner has confirmed the death was directly related to nicotine exposure.
Australian anti-tobacco harm reduction campaigners were quick to attack the safety of electronic cigarettes. Quit Victoria director Dr Sarah White was quick to stick the boot in to vaping: “'Leaving aside any argument or discussion about smoking cessation or harm reduction, what we really need to happen is some basic consumer safety standards around these liquids.”
White is staunchly against legalising vaping down under, something that would go a long way to improving the safety issues she argues for, including child-proof caps and packaging design, as this could then be covered by legislation.
- Responsible vapers should always ensure that liquids are stored in safe containers out of the reach of children and pets.
In Texas, a new vaper lost his life after his mechanical mod exploded in his car. William Brown was using his device in the car when it burst, sending shards of metal into his face and cutting his carotid artery. The incident occurred in the car park in front of a vape store where he’d just visited to seek advice on how to use his mech.
Although many experienced vapers use mech mods, it is essential that new users appreciate that they can cause problems:
- Learn how to calculate the current flow in the circuit using Ohm’s Law
- Ensure you buy quality, genuine batteries
- Make sure that your battery can handle the current flowing in the circuit
- Ensure there is no short between the coil and any part of the atomiser
- Ensure the pin of the atomiser if sufficiently protruding to make a safe connection with the mod/battery
- Ensure the mod has sufficient venting in case a battery goes into thermal runaway
- If in doubt, use regulated devices as they have inbuilt protection against short-circuit problems, polarity issues and atomiser connection snags
New vapers should make full use of the expertise of the members on the Planet of the Vapes forum so they can vape safely. Vaping remains far safer than smoking for the individual and has been linked to a dramatic drop in tobacco-related household fires.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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