BROWARD COUNTY, Fl. (NBC NEWS) – Some young school children were sickened on Friday in Florida after they ingested nicotine gum.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue received a 911 call on Friday morning from an administrator at Jacklyn Academy, which is a private school near SW 27th Avenue.
The employee said a few kids had ingested a strange substance that turned out to be nicotine gum.
The seven children whose ages range from 9 to 11 years old were all sent to Broward Health Medical Center.
It’s unclear how the nicotine mints got into the school.
A pediatrician says the product can produce vomiting, irregular heartbeat, increased blood pressure, or sometimes seizures.
“Apparently one of the children took the pills at school and they wanted to share with everybody else and they tried to compete how many they were able to take so all the kids are basically stable but one of them is a little more symptomatic than others but I think they’re gonna do well,” Broward Health’s Dr. Hector Ortiz told NBC 6 South Florida. “This is an important reminder that medications, they have to kept in a place where they cannot reach them.”
