Nicotine Water

Water is quite arguably the most essential nutrient for all life on earth. That being so, it may seem strange to put an addictive poison in the water and market it as a nutritional supplement, but that is exactly what the makers of Nico Water did.

In the late 90s this “nicotine water” began selling from a website; Smokers grabbed it up. They were glad of an alternative to get them through long flights, or long days in an office building that now prohibited smoking. It would not be on the market long however. In 2002, after some controversy of possible child poisoning due to it looking exactly like bottled water, concerns of misuse of the product and lack of regulation, the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) halted the sale of nicotine water. The FDA stated that this product could not be legally classified as an over the counter dietary supplement.

So the company reformulated it and after a short stint as a homeopathic medication, tried again and categorized nicotine water as a “tobacco product” in 2008. They actually increased the amount of nicotine in the water to 4 mg, twice what was in it while being marketed as a supplement. This reclassified product would then be considered a tobacco product. Now it no longer fell under the jurisdiction of the FDA; now the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms would take over regulating this combination of essential nutrient and a highly toxic and highly addictive drug.

Even though nicotine water seems to be legal, it is not found easily on internet searches. On sites it is found, it is either treated as a godsend, touted as a healthy smoke free alternative, or as a bomb, something that could easily endanger the lives of children. A search at the ATF website brings up no results. It’s as if nicotine water has went the way of the 80s “New Coke.”

Resources:
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=20851
http://www.nicotinewater.com/
http://www.waterindustry.org/Water-Facts/nicotine-water.htm
http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcrights/2fooage7.html
Photo: Henningklevjer, Wikimedia. No Endorsement Implied. For license information, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/deed.en.