Parents Are Alerted To Nicotine Patches

Now that nicotine patches are available over the counter, doctors warn they may pose an increased poisoning hazard to children.

Fourteen children got sick after putting new or used nicotine patches on their skin or in their mouths, according to a two-year study of poison centers. The findings appear in the May issue of Pediatrics, released Monday.

Patches can retain up to three-fourths of their nicotine after use, the equivalent of four to seven cigarettes, said the authors, led by Dr. Alan Woolf of Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital of Boston.