Eleven national medical, public health, and consumer organizations, including Consumer Federation of America , sent a letter to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) urging them to take swift enforcement action remove from the market dangerous liquid nicotine products lacking the child-resistant packaging and flow restrictors required under the Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act of 2015.

Liquid nicotine is a highly toxic product that poses a serious risk of negative health effects and death for children. Liquid nicotine products often contain high concentrations upwards of 36 mg of nicotine per milliliter of liquid, or over 500 mg of nicotine in a small 15 mL dropper bottle. Given that the estimated lethal dose of nicotine is 1 to 13 mg per kilogram of body weight, a bottle of liquid nicotine at this size and concentration would be enough to kill four toddlers. Since liquid nicotine can be quickly absorbed through the skin, flow restrictors are a critical protective measure to reduce the risk of child nicotine poisoning.

Nearly four years ago, in response to this hazard, Congress passed the Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act. The law requires the CPSC to enforce a mandatory child-resistant packaging standard for liquid nicotine containers, including the use of flow restrictors. However, concrete CPSC enforcement measures to remove noncompliant products from the market are long overdue and swift action is needed to protect children from this urgent public health danger.