After an astounding rise in calls about toxic exposure to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) medicines by children, the National Poisons Centre is asking adults to treat their NRT patches and gum just like medicine, keeping it out of the reach of children and pets.

The National Poisons Centre received only five calls relating to this issue in 2004, but the number was up to 27 in 2009 and jumped to 49 last year. These nicotine products are safe for adults to use in recommended doses, but can cause serious side effects in children like difficulty in breathing, irregular heartbeat and even death. Other symptoms children are hospitalized for include vomiting, salivation, agitation and nausea.

Small or brief exposure to the patches or pieces of gum is usually nothing to worry about, and the risk of poisoning is low, but around 75% of the children called about to the National Poisons Centre had to go for further treatment or monitoring by medical professionals.

A lethal dose of the nicotine medicines in children is 1mg per kg of body weight, so if your child weights 25kg, this would be 2.5mg of nicotine. A typical piece of NRT gum contains around 2 or 4mg of nicotine.