Want more nicotine? Just drink the water

The new spiked water is expected this summer, but anti-tobacco activists are lobbying hard for the Food and Drug Administration to regulate or restrict it.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. June 24, 2002.

The announcement that a California-based company is planning to roll out bottled water infused with nicotine has raised the ire of public health advocates and physicians.

They are petitioning the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the item as a drug or to classify it as a food containing a dangerous additive.

"[Nicotine water] is yet another novel approach to get around some of the nicotine and FDA issues and to try to develop a market for another product," said Randolph D. Smoak Jr., MD, immediate past president of the AMA, one of the 22 organizations that signed the petition sent to the FDA. "Nicotine is an extremely addictive drug and should be regulated just like other drugs are regulated. The FDA should do that."

Calls to QT5 Inc., the product's manufacturer, were not returned.

Nicotine-infused water is the latest of several items, such as lollipops and lip balm, sold as smoking substitutes, either for smokers to use when they can't light up or to help them quit.

Anti-smoking activists are concerned about the trend because the items may be appealing to children and used as a pathway to smoking, even though they are usually labeled to be sold only to those 18 and older.

"Children get their hands on everything," said Richard Levinson, MD, DPH, associate executive director of the American Public Health Assn., another organization that signed the petition, which was sent in December.

Activists are also concerned that because the items are marketed to be used when a smoker is not allowed to smoke, they may make quitting less appealing. And, while the items may be marketed as smoking cessation aids, there is no research as to their effectiveness. They are, however, cheaper than smoking cessation products now on the market, so they may be more attractive to consumers. [...]