In 2009, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company launched a dissolvable nicotine product called Camel Orbs. The mint look-a-likes are intended as a temporary form of nicotine for smokers in settings where smoking is banned, but a team of overzealous health mullahs from Harvard and the CDC claim the pellets could lead to accidental nicotine poisoning in children.

Writing in Pediatrics, the researchers point out that last year just under 7,000 out of 2.2 million calls to poison control centers were tobacco-related poisoning among children five years of age and under. Small children can experience nausea and vomiting from as little as 1 mg of nicotine.

Since the new pellets contain 1 mg nicotine each and are flavored with cinnamon or mint, they could only add to this public health catastrophe. The Researchers also say the recently introduced Camel Strips (0.6 mg nicotine per strip) and Sticks ( 3.1 mg nicotine per stick) could have a similar effect.


(photo credit: HSPH)

Researchers computed, based on median body weight, how much nicotine ingestion would lead to symptoms of poisoning in children: A one-year-old infant could suffer mild to moderate symptoms of nicotine poisoning by ingesting 8 to 14 Orbs, 14 Strips or 3 Sticks; ingesting 10 to 17 Orbs, 17 Strips or 3 to 4 Sticks could result in severe toxicity or death.

A four-year-old child could have moderate symptoms by ingesting 13 to 21 Orbs, 14 Camel Strips (0.6 mg) or 4 Sticks and could suffer severe toxicity or death by consuming 16 to 27 Orbs, 27 Strips or 5 Sticks. The researchers say that a poison control center in Portland, Oregon, a test market for Orbs, reported a case in which a three-year old ingested an Orbs pellet.

Orbs packaging is child resistant but the researchers say adults could unknowingly leave the pellets out in the open where children could easily access them, like knives or beer or Drano. They also claim that the candy-like appearance and flavoring and ease-of-use of the product could appeal to children.

"This product is called a 'tobacco' product, but in the eyes of a 4-year-old, the pellets look more like candy than a regular cigarette. Nicotine is a highly addictive drug and to make it look like a piece of candy is recklessly playing with the health of children," said Harvard Researcher Gregory Connolly, lead author of the study.

And anytime any product could possibly do any amount of harm to our children, the answer is to immediately involve the federal government. There is currently no law that allows bureaucrats to regulate Orbs, but the study's authors say that should change. "Federal and other public health authorities are advised to study these products to determine the appropriate regulatory approach, on the basis of their potential to cause poisonings and to create addiction among youths," the study concludes.


Citation: Connolly et al., Unintentional Child Poisonings Through Ingestion of Conventional and Novel Tobacco Products Pediatrics, Apr 2010; doi:10.1542/peds.2009-2835