Missouri Lawmakers Pass a New Bill
Representative Sheila Solon said her bill, House bill 531, would require e-cig liquid manufacturers to have child proof packaging.
She said the bill was brought to her attention by pediatric doctors in her district because they’ve seen an increase in emergency room visits from exposure to e-liquid.
This bill essentially makes the liquid packaging harder for children to get into, but it’s just the liquid nicotine that e-cig users squirt into the cartridges for refills.
If passed, it would be effective August 28th, 2015.
Solon explained the reason why she thinks legislators have been slow to pass regulation bills on e-cigs.
“I think probably a lot of legislators like myself are not familiar with e-cigarettes.”
Even area smoke shop owners said the bill could be good.
“Anytime you can protect them from that I think it’s a good thing. I don’t think it would be hard for the manufacturers to change the packaging,” said Natalie Callahan, at We B Smokin’ and Drinkin’.
Solon said one teaspoon of e-liquid can kill a child and that one New York toddler died back in December from exposure.
“Thankfully, we haven’t had a child die in Missouri, but it’s something we need to keep our children safe and this bill needs to pass this year.”
Solon also explained the way the Federal Government regulates childproof packaging. The FDA gets a bunch of small children in a room with several types of packaging and sees which packaging takes them the longest to get into.
Calls to Poison Control are also up 300% since 2014.