Nicotine is an extremely toxic and fast acting drug, poison and neurotoxin which has been used for many years as an effective pesticide. A few ounces of pure nicotine can be fatal. Over the years, nicotine has been used as a poison to commit homicide.





Recent Nicotine Homicide

In one recent case in 2017, a 22 year old Korean man was arrested for the murder of his 19 year old wife while they were on honeymoon in Japan. His wife was brought into hospital in cardio-respiratory arrest after being found unconscious in a hotel bedroom by her husband. A syringe and bottle of e-liquid containing nicotine were found in the bathroom and she had injection marks on both her arms.

Her postmortem peripheral blood nicotine concentration was 3,109 ng/mL (compared to 10 to 20 ng/mL from smoking a cigarette) and the cause of death was determined to be intravenous nicotine poisoning. The police found the husband's diary which detailed how to commit the homicide and he claimed an insurance payout after his wife's death, worth $140,00 (US).

Concentrated nicotine is very bitter and awful tasting and so is difficult to administered it surreptitiously in food or a drink, as found out by the accused as he tired unsuccessfully 2 years earlier to kill a former girlfriend with a nicotine-laced drink which she did not finished as it tasted weird.

Nicotine is probably not used more frequently as a poison due to the limitation of awful taste, and in addition, nicotine poisoning generally causes a lot of vomiting which would prevent most of the poison from being absorbed into the body.

First Reported Nicotine Homicide

The first reported case of a nicotine homicide was in Belgium in 1850, when the Comte and Countess de Bocarme murdered her younger brother, Gustave Fougnies, to inherit the family money and estate. At the time nicotine could not be detected postmortem, and so was the perfect poison, Prior to the murder the Comte (an amateur chemist who made perfumes) obtained a large amount of tobacco leaves which he stored in his barn.

Numerous animals (cats and ducks) were later found dead and buried around the estate by the police, unfortunate victims in the count's testing of the effectiveness of the nicotine he extracted from the tobacco leaves.

Again nicotine is so bitter tasting that supposedly the count and countess had to hold the victim down and pour the nicotine extract down his throat.

Fortunately Jean Servias Stas was able to make a forensic toxicological breakthrough and was able to detect nicotine in the postmortem tissues from victim, Gustave Fougnies. The Comte was tried and convicted and executed by the guillotine.

Suicide, Accidental Poisonings

There has been an increase in suicidal and accidental poisonings due nicotine as it is readily available in bottles of e-liquids at high concentrations and one does not have to extract the nicotine from tobacco leaves anymore. Even if you just spill the e-liquid on your hands while refilling a tank vaporizer, you can get sick as nicotine readily absorbs through the skin.

In addition thousands of young children have experienced nicotine poisoning from vaping products. All nicotine-containing e-liquids should be child resistant.

Conclusion

Nicotine is a very toxic poison and has been used over the centuries to commit homicides. It is also found in an increasing number of suicides and accidental poisonings.





References

Aoki, Y., Ikeda, T., Tani, N., Shida, A., Oritani, S., and Ishikawa, "Evaluation of the Distribution of Nicotine Intravenous Injection: An Adult Autopsy Case Report with a Review of Literature", International Journal of Legal Medicine, April 2019, 7pp.

Bassett, R.A., Osterhoudt, K., and Brabazon, K., "Nicotine Poisoning in an Infant", New England Journal of Medicine, June 5, 2014, 2249-2250

Ordonez, J.E., Kleinschmidt, K.C., and Forrestor, M.B., "Electronic Cigarette Exposures Reported to Texas Prison Centers", Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 25: 209-211, 2014





Nicotine Videos























































