by ashley stewart astewart@owatonna.comowatonna &mdash rows of colorful bottles sit in a cabinet behind the counter of star tobacco in owatonna.&ldquoeverything we sell is sealed by our distributors. that&rsquos how it&rsquos always been,&rdquo said josh peroutka, employee and son of star tobacco owners milt and melanie peroutka. &ldquomy dad said if we&rsquore selling it, he wanted to keep it sealed and safe from kids.&rdquothe bottles behind the counter at star tobacco, which has been open since june, are filled with ejuice, or eliquid, that is used in electronic delivery devices, more commonly known as ecigarettes, and as of jan. 1, minnesota law requires all ejuice to be sold in childresistant packaging by retailers.one of star tobacco&rsquos primary ejuice distributors, vermillion river, which is based in lakeville, changed its ejuice glass and plastic bottles months ago, said a vermillion river spokesperson who declined to provide a name.&ldquoit was the cap,&rdquo the spokesperson said. &ldquowe were required to. we did it months ago so our wholesale buyers could replace everything they needed to before the new year.&rdquogov. mark dayton&rsquos signing of the new legislation in may 2014 came after the federal centers for disease control and prevention published a study in april that found the number of calls to poison centers in the u.s. involving ejuice containing nicotine rose from one per month in september 2010 to 215 per month in february 2014.of the poison calls, more than half of them involved children younger than 5 years old and about 42 percent involved people 20 and older. the cdc says poisoning related to ecigarettes can occur three ways ingestion, inhalation or absorption through the skin or eyes.because of this, jane nyquist, steele county public health educator, said regulating ejuice packaging is an important step for minnesota as the u.s. food and drug administration doesn&rsquot regulate the product.&ldquoit will protect children &mdash and adults &mdash from accidental ingestion or absorption of ejuice lessening the risk of adverse health effects or death,&rdquo nyquist said.nyquist said ejuice is available in a wide variety of flavors, including cherry, bubble gum and gummy bear that appeal to children, and because most ejuices contain nicotine, they can be &ldquoextremely dangerous.&rdquo&ldquoexposure to nicotine, either by swallowing or through direct contact with the skin, can result in serious illness &mdash even death,&rdquo she said.according to the public health law center, requiring ejuices to be sold in childresistant packaging is one way to help reduce the incidence of liquid nicotine poison, particularly among younger children.under federal regulations, &ldquochildresistant packaging&rdquo must be significantly difficult for children under 5 years old, but it must not difficult for normal adults to use properly.nyquist said this is often accomplished through using a special cap.under the law, local law enforcement, including the owatonna police department, the blooming prairie police department and the steele county sheriff&rsquos office are responsible for enforcing the childresistant packaging requirement.nyquist said those would likely take place during alcohol and tobacco compliance checks with retailers, which are required at least once during the year.according to the city of owatonna, compliance checks are done at least twice a year with the assistance of underage operatives.the public health law center states city and county law enforcement will likely be unable to determine whether the bottles, vials or other type of packaging used to sell ejuice underwent, as well as passed, the testing requirement through visual or physical inspections, but inspectors may request a copy of the report from the manufacturer or supplier the retailer is using.if retailers violate the childresistant packaging requirement, they will be subject to administrative penalties found in the city&rsquos and county&rsquos licensing ordinance as well as minnesota law with increased fines and the possibility of license suspensions or revocations for repeat violations.nyquist said currently ecigarettes are not included in owatonna&rsquos tobacco ordinance, but the city council will be addressing it in 2015. because of this, penalties are based on state law.also in may, dayton signed a law that prohibited the use of ecigarettes in some schools, universities, and government and health care facilities. minnesota law also requires that ecigarettes are taxed as tobacco products, and retailers in minnesota can&rsquot sell ecigarettes to minors.additionally, retailers selling ecigarettes are required to be licensed, must keep ecigarettes behind the counter, and are subject to annual compliance checks.reach reporter ashley stewart at 4442378 or follow her on twitter.com @oppashley 
