More Children Ingesting E-Cigarette Liquids

Nicotine is a poison and when it's liquefied it's a highly concentrated poison.

Ren Gaulrapp learned that hard way when her 4-year-old son got into liquid nicotine used to refill e-cigarettes.

"Hear a little bit of a noise, come in and he has taken the lid off of all of them and has this liquid everywhere. He's got it all over him. He's been eating it," she said.

Her son vomited all day long and was rushed to the emergency room.

Calls to poison centers involving e-cigarettes have surged with 215 in February alone.

Just three and a half years ago, calls averaged only one per month.

The Centers for Disease Control says the liquids, which come in flavors like melon and strawberry, look and smell like candy.

One mouthful of the liquid, for a child, is like eating four or five cigarettes which could be lethal.

Poison control experts say you don't even have to swallow liquid nicotine to get sick.

A spokesman for e-cigarette makers says they are trying to work with regulators on childproof packaging and warning labels, but he put some of the safety burden on consumers, too.

"This is an adult product and should be treated as such," he wrote. "Responsible behavior should be promoted and enforced."

The CDC calls these liquids a threat.

Poison experts say bottles can spill, cartridges can break and little hands can get into this highly concentrated poison.