Kids and nicotine tabs
|
|
From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
New dissolvable nicotine tablets and sticks are being sold like cigarettes - although they're marketed as a substitute for smoking in times and places where a smoker can't light up.
But researchers say these products - which may be the size of a breath mint - can pose big problems for small children, who could eat them like candy. They're flavored with cinnamon or mint.
The researchers computed how many pellets it would take to sicken a child. At the Harvard School of Public Health, Greg Connolly gives the result for a 1-year-old:
``Based on a review of the scientific evidence, if a child ingests 10 pellets, in all likelihood they are going to have serious neurological problems.'' (8 seconds)
The study in the journal Pediatrics was supported by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Learn more at hhs.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.