FDA to Companies: Stop Making Liquid Nicotine Products that Resemble Cough Syrup

Officials with the US FDA have issued warning letters to 2 companies, Undisputed Worldwide and EZ Fumes, for manufacturing, selling and/or distributing nicotine-containing e-liquids with labeling that they allege could be mistaken for prescription cough syrups.

In the FDA's In Brief, the administration noted that the products include: “Double Cup Liquids Spritech Lemon Lime E-Juice Syrup” and “Double Cup Liquids Pineapple Phantom E-Juice Syrup,” both of which have "labeling and/or advertising that cause them to appear to be ingestible by imitating the prescription cough syrup products Actavis Prometh with Codeine and Hi-Tech Promethazine Hydrochloride and Codeine, respectively." The labeling and/or advertising of these “Double Cup” e-liquid products also cause them to appear to be ingestible as food.

If these products were confused, it could result in someone ingesting "could result in ingesting toxic amounts of liquid nicotine. Likewise, nicotine exposures of these sorts are extremely problematic and could be fatal for children."

According to the brief, "child poisonings due to the ingestion of liquid nicotine have recently increased substantially."