HSE recalls e-cigarettes with higher than permitted levels of nitcotine

State agency issues safety alert for two products using brand name Fantasi Ice which it says poses ‘serious risk to public safety’

The HSE have issued a RAPEX safety alert, or recall, notice about e-cigarette products stating that two Fantasi Ice products contain more than the permitted concentration of nicotine.

The products were found to have a nicotine concentration of up to 25.3mg/ml, as opposed to the declared nicotine concentration on the packaging which indicated a nicotine concentration of 20mg/ml or 2 per cent nicotine.

The HSE’s Environmental Health Service, National Tobacco Control Office 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 contain more than the permitted amount of nicotine.

Retailers have been asked to recall the products and consumers have been told not to use them as the HSE have said that they pose a serious risk to public safety.

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Fantasi Ice Orange, batch code 201614188 and Fantasi Ice Remix Blackcurrant and Lemon, batch code 20506085, are the affected products.

Dr Maurice Mulcahy, Regional Chief Environmental Health Officer at the HSE, said the public should check their Fantasi Ice products against the two products involved in the 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,” he said.

“We are also asking retailers to stop selling the products listed and to contact the HSE with supplier traceability details.

“If retailers have sold or distributed any of the listed products, we want them to recall them by displaying a recall notice in a prominent position in their retail premises and on their website,” Dr Mulcahy said.

The HSE also request that retailers contact them at info.tpd@hse.ie if they have any of the affected Fantasi Ice products with product and full traceability details, and if they have any questions on the matter.

The HSE also advises consumers who have these affected products not to use them and return them to the shop where purchased.

For more information on this RAPEX alert visit https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/tobaccocontrol/enforcement/rapex-public-alert-notice-fantasi-ice.docx

RAPEX is an EU-wide rapid information exchange system for products (except food, pharmaceutical and medical devices) found to pose a serious health and/or safety risk.

Ellen O’Donoghue

Ellen O’Donoghue

Ellen O'Donoghue is an Irish Times journalist