Almost 70% of nicotine-based refills for electronic cigarettes fail to state the contents are poisonous, despite this being required by law, according to research by the Dutch food safety body NVWA.

The packaging should carry a skull icon to show the contents are dangerous to health. This means users are not being properly warned about the contents, the NVWA said in a statement.

The food safety body is threating to fine firms who don’t improve their labelling. In total, 108 of the 151 refills studied were not properly labelled.

Children

At the same time, there has been improvement in the child-safety catches on the packaging, the NVWA said. In addition, nearly all the refill packs also met new EU guidelines and contained fewer than 10 mm of fluid and a nicotine concentration of less than 2%.

Junior health minister Martin van Rijn said in December he plans to restrict sales of electronic cigarettes to people aged 18 and over.

The minister said in an answer to Labour MPs’ questions that it would be ‘undesirable’ for ‘youngsters who do not smoke to develop a nicotine addiction by smoking e-cigarettes’.