By Richard Davies
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Mar 5, 2014 8 38am

(Photo Credit Martina Paraninfi/Getty Images)

Morning Money Memo

The debate over e cigarettes is heating up. Los Angeles has joined New York and Chicago, becoming the latest big city to approve new restrictions. By a 14 0 vote the L.A. City Council outlawed “vaping” inhaling e cigarette vapors at most public places, including parks and some beaches. Council members defeated a proposal to allowing vaping in “bars and nightclubs.

The push for regulations is a threat to the rapidly growing e cigarette industry. Sales of e cigarettes reached $1.5 billion in 2013, according to an analysis by Bloomberg News. Altria, Lorillard and other producers have marketed e cigarettes as a healthier alternative to smoking. But industry critics say they are a gateway for teens and others to try cigarettes.

General Motors’ new CEO Mary Barra is also taking a strong personal interest in consumer safety, leading an internal review of the company’s practices after an embarrassing recall of 1.6 million older small cars. GM last week doubled the number of cars included in a global recall over faulty ignition switches that have been linked to 13 deaths. The company issued a rare apology for the slow response and admitted it knew of the problem a decade ago. Barra says GM’s reputation will be determined by how the company handles the problem.

A bank specializing in bitcoins says it shut down after computer hackers robbed its digital currency. The closure of the Flexcoin bank comes just a week after the collapse of Mt. Gox, a major bitcoin exchange. Mt. Gox also said it was the victim of an electronic heist. Flexcoin says 896 bitcoins were stolen from its online vault. That translates into a loss of about $600,000, based on the current trading value. Unlike banks dealing in government backed currencies, Flexcoin’s losses aren’t covered by deposit insurance.

It was a major relief rally. Stock averages had their best day of the year so far. The S&P opens this morning at a record high after gaining 1 1/2 percent Tuesday. The Nasdaq is at a 14 year high. The belief on financial markets is that the worst of the crisis over Ukraine and the threat of a broader Russian invasion may be over. Asian stocks rose overnight as tensions appeared to ease.

China’s government is promising a series of changes to promote competition and economic growth by opening state run industries to private investment and making banks more market oriented. China’s top economic official says more consumer spending will be encouraged. Chinese authorities say they want to keep this year’s growth target at 7.5 percent.

Richard Davies Business Correspondent ABC News Radio Twitter daviesnow

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Yenisley Dieppa tries different flavors as she purchases an electronic cigarette at the Vapor Shark store on February 20, 2014 in Miami, Florida. New reports show that the liquid nicotine in e cigarettes could be potentially lethal. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

As e cigarettes become more widespread, the nicotine liquid used to fill e cigarettes has been found to be potentially dangerous.

Liquid nicotine is a neurotoxin and small amounts whether ingested or absorbed through the skin can be lethal.

As the New York Times reports, poison control centers around the country are seeing rising rates of accidental poisonings, especially among young children.

Here & Now’s Robin Young speaks with Ashley Webb, the director of the Kentucky Regional Poison Control Center, about whether she’s seen a rise in nicotine poisoning from e cigarettes.

However, we heard from many Here & Now listeners who praised e cigarettes for helping them quit traditional tobacco smoking.

Tom Glynn, director of Cancer Science and Trends at the American Cancer Society, says he’s intrigued by the promise of using e cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool, but the scientific evidence and the FDA do not yet support the practice.

• Here & Now Los Angeles To Restrict E Cigarette Use

Interview Highlights Tom Glynn and Ashely Webb

Webb on the main danger concerns related to e cigarettes

“We re concerned about children who get a hold of e cigarettes or get a hold of the vials. One because they can spill it on their skin and have symptoms, or two because they can ingest it and have symptoms.

“But also adults who are handling e cigarettes or refilling e cigarettes have the potential to get it on their skin as well and have the same symptoms nausea and vomiting, some pallor and sweating, salivation. We’ve seen a couple of cases with increased heart rate and blood pressure. We re concerned that in a significant enough exposure we d see cardiac affects and potentially nervous system affects including seizure.”

“We re looking at such a high concentrated product that some amounts including just a milliliter to two milliliters can equal numerous cigarettes so we’ve seen calls for tobacco with children eating cigarettes and we do get a concern with that but it takes a much smaller amount of the concentrated liquid to cause symptoms we d be concerned about.”

Glynn on the American Cancer Society’s position on e cigarettes

Our position on e cigarettes are that they re intriguing. In the short run, we know that they are going to be less harmful than a traditional burn cigarette there s virtually nothing that is more harmful than a traditional burn cigarette. And they may have a role in helping some smokers stop. But there are many, many scientific medical and social questions still surrounding e cigarettes, and at this point we can t actively encourage their use until we have more independent science based information and FDA regulation.

Glynn on the debate over using FDA approved cessation drugs and e cigarettes

I’ve seen that argument for many years, and it s just simply not the case. The FDA approved medications all seven of them five of them are nicotine replacement products, as well as two prescription products.

“They have been moderately useful they help maybe on the first try, maybe 10 to 15 percent of people quit smoking. People then need to recycle and try again and they become more useful particularly if they re used correctly.

The limited data suggests that e cigarettes are probably in the same range as the nicotine replacement products and the other two medications. So the question then arises If they re about equal, why use something that hasn’t been approved by the FDA? On the other hand if they haven t proved useful to someone clinicians are not discouraging people from it but basically saying do so with your eyes open.

Guests

• Ashley Webb, director of the Kentucky Regional Poison Control Center of Kosair Children’s Hospital.
• Tom Glynn, director of Cancer Science and Trends at the American Cancer Society.

Transcript

ROBIN YOUNG, HOST

It’s HERE AND NOW. In our recent report on e cigarettes, both of our guests, Brian King of the Centers for Disease Control and Emily McDonald of the University of California San Francisco, were critical. E cigs are not regulated, there’s no research on the nicotine vapor they deliver, and there are studies that show they lead kids to real smoking.

But wait, many of you said, they helped me quit smoking. We want to get to that, but first a new concern about e cigs, e liquids, the pure nicotine extracted from tobacco that’s the key ingredient in e cigs. It’s in refiller vials and in the e cigs, and children are attracted to the sweetened flavors. In 2013, there were 74 e cig poison cases just in Minnesota 29 were kids under two.

We want to check in now in another state, Kentucky. Ashley Webb is a toxicologist and director of the Kentucky Regional Poison Control Center at Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville. Ashley, what are you seeing there?

ASHLEY WEBB We’ve already seen about 40 exposures this year. We look at trends, and so when you look at a number of nine in 2012 to over 60 in 2013, and now we’re set to at least triple, if not more than that, in 2014, that that’s an alarming trend for us.

YOUNG Yes, it is. And you say exposures. E liquids are far more dangerous than tobacco because it can be absorbed so quickly not just when it’s ingested but on the skin.

WEBB That’s correct. So we’re concerned about children who get a hold of e cigarettes or get a hold of vials One, because they can spill it on their skin and have symptoms or two, because they can ingest it and have symptoms. But also adults who are handling e cigarettes or refilling e cigarettes have the potential to get it on their skin, as well, and have the same symptoms nausea and vomiting, some pallor, sweating, salivation.

We’ve seen a couple of cases with increased heart rate and blood pressure. We’re concerned that in a significant enough exposure we’d see cardiac effects and potentially nervous system effects including seizures.

YOUNG Well, or death. We understand just a teaspoon of this nicotine could kill a small child.

WEBB That’s correct. We’re looking at such a high concentrated product that some amounts, including just a milliliter to two milliliters, can equal numerous cigarettes. And so, you know, we’ve seen calls for tobacco with children eating cigarettes, and we do get concerned with that, but it takes a much smaller amount of the concentrated liquid to cause symptoms we’d be concerned about.

YOUNG Well first of all, there’s got to be awareness. Some people aren’t even aware that this is true. But what else would you like to see happen here?

WEBB We are trying to increase awareness that nicotine is a toxin and especially in a highly concentrated form, and we want people to recognize that they should treat it like a medication. They should keep it up and out of sight of children. And people using it themselves should use caution when refilling the product not to get nicotine on their skin.

YOUNG Ashley Webb, toxicologist and director of the Kentucky Regional Poison Control Center at Kosair Children’s Hospital there in Louisville, Kentucky. Ashley, thank you so much.

WEBB Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.