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The CDC put out a graph image last week that is making the rounds to local media and e-cig opponents. They, in turn, are making sure that everyone sees it. The graph itself is wildly misleading and is being used to spin e-cigs as a poisonous product that is dangerous to everyone.

The graph shows that from September 2010 to February 2014, poison center calls involving electronic cigarettes rose from one per month to 215 per month. That a whooping 21,400% increase! Looks pretty terrible, right? Well there’s a few problems with this.

Due to the presence of nicotine, the e-liquid in electronic cigarettes can be toxic at certain levels — especially to infants. Many experts argue that the amount of nicotine required to be toxic or deadly is much more than current science takes as gospel — though too much can still give someone the jitters. Despite many anti-e-cig groups and individuals claiming we know nothing of what’s in electronic cigarettes, ingredients are listed clearly by most reputable companies and research has yet to show that any of these ingredients are dangerous or that any mystery ingredients are being added without disclosure.

In short, electronic cigarette vaporizing liquid (e-liquid for short) is not poisonous by the drop, but it is poisonous by the gallon. It’s hardly the only thing in our homes like that. And just like alcohol, cleaning products, cosmetics, and razor blades, we expect people to act responsibly, keep them out of the reach of children, and be aware that not all things are safe at all degrees.

However, these numbers do two things that make them a fair bit misleading. First, they use 2010 to 2014. The e-cig market this year is likely to tip $3 billion dollars and there are e-cigs being sold in almost every convenience store in the nation now. In 2010, experts guess that the market was something in the neighborhood of $50-100 million. E-cigs weren’t sold in convenience stores yet and were mostly an online and hobbyist market. Few people had actually heard of electronic cigarettes — and sales came primarily from the 35 to 55 age group.

So this graph takes a time when the industry hardly existed and compares it to a mass market that sprang up seemingly from nowhere. If nothing else, this chart shows just how wildly the market grew in a span of three and a half years.

Second, these are the number of calls made regarding the products. So this is not an indicator of actual incidents of harm or death due to the products — only that someone called a poison center seeking information. Many of these could quite easily have been I spilled e-liquid on my hand and now I feel jittery or I was thinking about buying an e-cig to stop smoking, are they safe. In short, these numbers indicate activity but say nothing of what that activity was.

Already, people are taking the chart and running articles and posts like E-cigarettes More Dangerous says New CDC Study. More dangerous than what? While half these calls involved children, there is no mention of the results of any other them — perhaps because that doesn’t make as interesting a story. If, God forbid, a child died from nicotine poisoning from an electronic cigarette in the U.S., I think it’s safe to assume everyone would hear about it. The study also mentions that the number of calls regarding traditional cigarettes did not change over that period — but then, that industry isn’t growing, it’s shrinking.

This is not the first time the CDC has put out misleading numbers that inflame concerns about electronic cigarettes. In 2013, the organization announced that e-cig use among teens doubled from 2011 to 2012 but those numbers were questionable at best. Even the director of the CDC didn’t get the spin right on that.

We’ll see what happens next.