Safety alert notice issued by HSE over two disposable electronic cigarettes

The HSE’s Environmental Health Service has alerted the public to stop using two e-cigarette products as they contain illegal amounts of nicotine. People can return them to the shop they were bought in and retailers have been asked to stop selling them.

The products are: Mc Kesse Blue & Razz Ice MK Bar 7000 Disposable, Expiry date: 03/12/2023 and Mc Kesse Green Apple MK Bar 7000 Disposable, Expiry date: 03/12/2023

The HSE’s Environmental Health Service, National Tobacco Control Office, has submitted a RAPEX alert notification to the European Safety Gate (the EU rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products) after discovering that the products named contain more than the permitted amount of nicotine (20mg/ml or 2%).

The products subject to the RAPEX alert were sampled and analysed by the HSE and found to have a nicotine concentration up to 28.9 mg/ml.  The declared nicotine concentration on the packaging indicated a nicotine concentration of 20mg/ml or 2% nicotine.

The HSE has contacted all major Irish distributors of e-cigarettes and refill containers and made them aware of this issue.

Dr Maurice Mulcahy, Regional Chief Environmental Health Officer, HSE said “As a precautionary measure our message for the public is to check the Mc Kesse products you may have against the two products involved in this alert. If you have any of these products, we want you to stop using it and return it to the shop where you bought it.

“We are also asking retailers to stop selling the products listed below and to contact the HSE with supplier traceability details. If retailers have sold or distributed any of the listed products below we want them to recall them by displaying a recall notice in a prominent position in their retail premises and on their website.

“This is the second RAPEX alert initiated by the Environmental Health Service in recent weeks. I therefore must remind manufacturers and importers of electronic cigarettes and refill containers (e-liquids), it is their responsibility to ensure that they fully comply with all legislative requirements.

One of two photos supplied by the HSE to identify the product concerned 

“This includes the legal onus on manufacturers and importers to give full and proper advance notification to the HSE of their intention to place products on the Irish market via the European Common Entry Gate portal. Furthermore, they are reminded they bear full responsibility for the quality and safety of these products, when placed on the market and used under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions.

“Retailers must also ensure that the products they purchase from importers/distributors are notified to the HSE via the EU Common Entry Gate and comply with all legislative requirements.

“In cases where the Environmental Health Service establishes that products made available or placed on the market do not comply with legal requirements we will not hesitate to exercise our legal enforcement powers.”

One of the affected items 

The HSE is asking retailers to do the following:

If you have any of the McKesse products as set out above, you must remove them from sale and contact the HSE at info.tpd@hse.ie with product and full traceability details

If you have sold or distributed any of the products above, a recall notice must be displayed in a prominent position in your retail premises and on your website and social media

Retailers with any queries in relation to this matter can contact the HSE at info.tpd@hse.ie

More information on the products can be found at https://ec.europa.eu/safety-gate-alerts/  using the words ‘electronic cigarette’.

Again, the HSE advises consumers if they have these affected products not to use them and return them to the shop where purchased. For more information on this RAPEX alert click here.