In this April 2016 photo provided by the law office of Lipsig, Shapey, Manus & Moverman P.C., Marc Eli Freund stands next to his client Katrina Williams at the law firm’s offices in New York, as she recovers from injuries she said says she got from an exploding e-cigarette.The rising popularity of e-cigarettes has been accompanied by a climbing number of incidents of explosions in the decade since their debut.(Lipsig, Shapey, Manus & Moverman P.C.via AP) MINEOLA, N.Y.| Katrina Williams wanted a safer alternative to smoking, and e-cigarettes seemed to be the answer until the day one exploded in her pocket as she drove home from a beauty salon.“It was like a firecracker” as it seared third-degree burns in her leg, blasted through her charred pants and stuck in the dashboard, the New Yorker said.That was in April.Williams, a freight manager, said she still hasn’t returned to work.“It was very disturbing.” Similar painful accidents have been recorded with increasing frequency over the past year as use of e-cigarettes has climbed, with faulty batteries seen as the suspected culprit.

The industry maintains e-cigarettes are safe when used properly.Food and Drug Administration, which started regulating e-cigarettes in May, identified about 66 explosions in 2015 and early 2016, after recording 92 explosions from 2009 to September 2015.In late November, a clerk at a liquor store in New York’s Grand Central Station was casually leaning against a counter when the e-cigarette in his pocket erupted.A security camera captured him frantically trying to snuff out a fountain of white-hot sparks.Surveillance video also captured an e-cigarette explosion in September at a New Jersey mall that left a woman’s Louis Vuitton bag smoking as she stood at a checkout counter.Police say a teenage girl on a train at the Universal Orlando amusement park suffered burns in October when an electronic cigarette belonging to another visitor exploded and shot a fireball at her.The numbers kept by the FDA may be an undercount.One hospital, the UW Medicine Regional Burn Center at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, says it has seen about 23 patients with e-cigarette burns since it started tracking them informally in October 2015.

“They are extremely dangerous and need to be revamped or revised,” said Marc Freund, a New York attorney who represents both Williams and a 14-year-old boy who was partially blinded when an e-cigarette device exploded at a kiosk selling e-cigarettes at a Brooklyn mall.The problems with the devices are linked to their lithium-ion batteries, which help vaporize liquid nicotine into a mist that distributors and some health experts say is far less harmful than traditional tobacco cigarettes.e cigarette usersThe same types of batteries are used safely in many consumer electronics, but they’ve also been behind fires in hover boards and smartphones.e cigarette 700 puffsLast year, the federal Department of Transportation issued a rule prohibiting passengers from packing e-cigarettes in checked luggage to protect against in-flight fires.e cigarette zambia

Thomas Kiklas, co-founder of the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association, argues the devices are safe when used properly.He said the TVECA encourages proper recharging of the batteries as a way to prevent possible injuries.Euromonitor International, a market research company, noted there were 10.8 million regular e-cigarette users in the U.S.e-cigarette bialystokin 2015, generating $3.5 billion in sales.e cigarette avenue louiseGregory L. Bentley, an Irvine, California, attorney, won a nearly $2 million judgment in a product liability lawsuit for a woman burned by an e-cigarette last year.e cigarette baisieuxHe said he has a growing list of similar cases, most of which involve batteries and other components manufactured in China that have been subject to little safety oversight.

“The problem is defectively manufactured batteries,” he said.“Consumers need to know it’s next to impossible to sue a Chinese company.If people want to seek compensation they have to target distributors, wholesalers and retailers.” Last week, the U.S.surgeon general called e-cigarettes an emerging public health threat to the nation’s youth, although he highlighted the risk of nicotine addiction, not explosions.Charles Schumer said the FDA should consider a recall.“It’s bad enough that e-cigarettes cause nicotine addiction and may be dangerous to a person’s health, but now it seems they’re doubling as a ticking time bomb,” he said.FDA spokesman Michael Felberbaum said the agency is reviewing the health impacts of all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.He said the review will include an evaluation of the use of e-cigarette batteries, including “amperage, voltage, wattage, battery type” and other issues.This sign at St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens doens’t explicitly state the fact, but St. Mary’s Health Care System, which operates a number of health facilities in Athens and hospitals in Lavonia and Greensoboro, has added e-cigarettes to its no-smoking policy.

(Photo courtesy St. Mary’s Health Care System) As evidence grows that e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) carry their own health risks, St. Mary’s Health Care System is expanding its tobacco-free policy to include vaping equipment and products.In addition to St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens, the St. Mary’s Health Care System includes St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital in Greensboro and St. Mary’s Scred Heart Hospital in Lavonia.According to a news release announcing the system’s expanded tobacco-free policy, ENDS solutions contain chemicals that are known to be dangerous, including anti-freeze and substances capable of causing cancer such as nitrosamines.In addition, most ENDS solutions contain nicotine, which is proven to be dangerous to adults, adolescents, children, and especially to pregnant women and their unborn babies.Not only is it highly addictive, it is toxic to developing fetuses, damaging their brains and lungs, according to the news release.

“Everyone has a right to clean air,” said Titus Gambrell, DNP, interim director of nursing.“That’s why, for the health of our patients, staff and community, St. Mary’s has been a tobacco-free campus since 2009.We have added language about ENDS because more people are using e-cigarettes and many have the mistaken belief that e-cigarettes are safer than regular cigarettes.They’re not.” The policy applies to all buildings and grounds owned or leased by St. Mary’s.In addition to the three hospitals, affected properties include the Highland Hills Village retirement community, Hospice House, outpatient center, wound care center, and physician practices.ENDS devices are often marketed as a “safer” alternative to smoking, a way to quit smoking cigarettes, and a way to smoke in places where cigarette smoking is not allowed, said Rory Mathisen, St. Mary’s manager of community benefit and outreach.But evidence shows they pose serious health risks of their own and, because they contain nicotine, may be just as addictive as traditional tobacco products.

In addition, Mathisen said, e-cigarettes can harm people who aren’t using them.Nationwide, a number of cases of nicotine poisoning have been reported because of drinking e-cigarette liquid.In addition, the liquid can be absorbed through the skin.Also, according to the news release, e-cigarette vapors contain nicotine and aerosols from the burning of ENDS fluids.Health officials advise that secondhand e-vapors can be hazardous to non-vaping family members, friends, and the general public.The ENDS ban has another goal, Mathisen noted: to help people quit.“The primary purpose of smoke-free laws and policies is to protect people who do not smoke from second-hand smoke,” he said.“However, the Centers for Disease Control states that smoke-free laws can also provide motivation that helps tobacco users quit – especially employees of organizations with tobacco-free policies.” Mathisen said evidence also shows that smoke-free laws and policies can increase the number of people who not only want to quit, but who succeed in quitting.