The front page article in the New York Times (“Selling a Poison by the Barrel: Liquid Nicotine for E-Cigarettes“) didn’t mince words. The bad science reporting that followed this hyperbolic headline is a much graver threat to public health than e-cigarettes themselves. The sensationalization of science and public health coverage occludes real dangers and gives consumers an excuse to ignore serious warnings as just more of the typical hype.

Electronic cigarettes, increasingly popular as a substitute for normal cigarettes, allow smokers to consume nicotine by inhaling it in a vapor. In contrast to traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes contain fewer carcinogens, since the nicotine is delivered without incinerating paper, tar, and other materials used to treat and bind tobacco leaves.

The NYT article doesn’t dispute the comparative safety of e-cigarettes when smoked, but is concerned about the concentrated liquid nicotine, and the dangers of drinking or spilling it before it is smoked. If a user drinks the liquid in e-cigarettes, it is poisonous, and it is much more dangerous to children, if they drink the nicotine or pour it all over themselves, where it can be absorbed through the skin.

However, this danger isn’t enough to justify the hyperbolic headline. As far back as Paracelsus in the 15th century, doctors have known that it’s the dose that makes the poison. If the NYT were looking for other examples of dangerous chemicals lurking in the home, there’d be no reason to default to the bleach and the antifreeze; Tylenol would fit the bill.

Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, is safe at regular doses, but life-threatening. For a patient taking extra-strength Tylenol, just two additional pills per day over the recommended maximum is enough to wind up in the hospital. Arguably, liquid nicotine is less risky than Tylenol, since an adult isn’t in danger from a casual error. There’s no danger of miscalculating the dosage in normal use, just drinking something that wasn’t meant to be swallowed.

Or maybe e-cigarettes are more like compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). These efficient lightbulbs contain mercury, so, although they’re perfectly safe on a day to day basis, they’re hazardous if they break, and require special cleanup. A customer should address a liquid nicotine spill about as carefully as they would a shattered CFL.

Tylenol and CFLs haven’t been banned as a result of their dangers. The solution has been child resistant packaging, better warning labels, and consumer education. The NYT might have done better to spike this cover story, and give e-cigarettes the same practical safety guide they offered for CFLs in 2009. Frontloading an article with scaremongering is irresponsible and may alienate the most relevant readers: e-cigarette users.

Sensationalism may make better traffic, but it, too, is toxic at high doses.

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