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E-cigarettes: an evidence update <br /> <br />81 <br />11. Other health and safety concerns <br />There have been a number of newspaper reports about the hazards of EC use including <br />e-liquid ingestion/poisonings, fires, battery explosions etc [147-149]. In this chapter we <br />review available national data on these issues to endeavour to quantify the risk. <br /> <br />Poison reports <br />Data on e-liquid exposures in the UK are available from the National Poisons <br />Information Service (NPIS)[150]. The NPIS provides information about poisoning to <br />NHS staff and publishes data based on enquiries made by phone, using their online <br />database TOXBASE, and by consultant referrals. The NPIS report for 2013/14 [150] <br />details 204 enquiries related to the liquid content of EC and their refills, most of which <br />reported accidental exposure, however 21 enquiries were related to intentional <br />overdoses using e-liquids. Most incidences concerned ingestion of the liquid in EC or <br />their refills (n=182) although small numbers of inhalation (n=17), eye contact (n=13) and <br />skin contact (n=12) enquiries were also reported. The NPIS further reported that the <br />number of enquiries about e-liquids has increased since 2007 (Figure 20) broadly <br />reflecting the increasing popularity of EC. <br /> <br />A large proportion of exposures to e-liquids were in children under five years old (Figure <br />21), a finding that is replicated in a US study on calls to poison centres [151]. However, <br />the concentration of events concerning children is not unique to e -liquids. Children <br />under five years old appear to be more vulnerable than adults to accidental poisoning in <br />general (Figure 22). <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />