They may look like tiny pillows, but they pack a toxic punch.
Cigarette smoking has plummeted dramatically since 1965, but in recent years, nicotine use is on the uptick thanks to vapes and nicotine pouches like Zyns, which offer a more discreet way of delivering a nicotine fix than e-cigs.
But a shocking new study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics has revealed that these smoke-free alternatives pose a deadly threat to little children.
Between 2010 and 2023, there were were 134,663 nicotine ingestions among children younger than 6, a number based on calls to US poison centers.
But while the rate of ingestion by vapes decreased, poisonings due to nicotine pouches surged by 763% just between 2020 and 2023.
And 76% of those nicotine poisoning cases were in babies and toddlers below the age of 2.
The majority of these poisonings had little to no side effects and 81.3% didn’t even require a trip to the hospital. However, 39 children had serious side effects — and two died.
The toddlers — both under the age of 2 — died after consuming the liquid nicotine found in vapes.
“It’s good that the majority of kids in the study actually did pretty well. Most kids had either minor symptoms or no symptoms and didn’t require any medical management,” Natalie Rine, the director of the Central Ohio Poison Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, told NBC.
“But two deaths is a lot, especially for something considered a preventable death.”
The study noted that nicotine pouches — which can contain as much as 6 milligrams of nicotine — were twice as likely to result in a hospital visit than other nicotine products.
Rine told USA Today that some of the initial symptoms of poisoning are nausea and vomiting — these can escalate to high blood pressure, a rapid heart rate, seizures, respiratory failure and even comas, especially with large doses.
To keep your kids safe, she recommends keeping these products out of the house entirely — particularly the pouches, which are often flavored and easy to mistake for candy or other sweets — or locking them up.
Avoid using the products around them, as “children like to mimic behavior,” she pointed out to USA Today.
Other tips include choosing products with childproof packaging and keeping the national Poison Help Line number (1-800-222-1222) somewhere within clear view at home.
In February, NY state legislator Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal proposed a ban on flavored nicotine pouches, including Zyn, despite the FDA’s approval of the product.
“Nicotine in any form and in any product is a highly addictive substance. This legislation would align New York values in prohibiting enticing flavors for all nicotine products — including nicotine pouches,” he said in his bill memo.
Pouch use nearly doubled among US high school students between 2023 and 2024, according to new research from the University of Southern California.
It’s too early to know the long-term health effects, but the pouches have been found to irritate the mouth, damage gums and increase the risk of heart disease and hypertension because nicotine raises heart rate and blood pressure.
The USC researchers noted that nicotine exposure during adolescence can harm brain development, leading to difficulties with learning, memory and attention.
Furthermore, alarming research has identified hazardous substances and potential carcinogens in some nicotine pouches.
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