FDA: Powdered caffeine can be lethal

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and ANN SANNER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers to avoid pure powdered caffeine sold on the Internet after the death of an Ohio teen.

Even a teaspoon of the powder could be lethal — it is equivalent to 25 cups of coffee. Eighteen-year-old Logan Stiner of LaGrange, Ohio, died May 27 after consuming it.

The FDA said it is investigating caffeine powder and will "consider taking regulatory action." In the meantime, the agency said it is recommending consumers stay away from it.

Teenagers and young adults may be particularly drawn to the powder, which is a stimulant. Caffeine powder is marketed as a dietary supplement and is unregulated, unlike caffeine added to soda.

FULL story at link.



This Jan. 16, 2014, photo shows Keystone High School wrestler Logan Stiner during a match in Sheffield Village, Ohio. The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers to avoid pure powdered caffeine sold on the Internet after Stiner died after consuming it. Even a teaspoon of the powder could be lethal {2014} it is equivalent to 25 cups of coffee. (AP Photo/Steve Manheim, The Chronicle Telegram)


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140718/us-caffeine-powder-warning-41344ea233.html

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[Spitfire of ATJ]

1. Things like this don't help....

To drag up an oldie but a goodie: Speed KILLS.

Or:



Please folks.

Don't end up on a slab.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

5. Goddamn you Mrs. Olson!

[IMG][/IMG]

Folgers crystals, you've been doing it wrong.

[billhicks76]

7. Marijuana Isn't A Drug

And all that used it to imprison and fleece the public while ruining families and futures should have to come before a tribunal. Not only is Cannabis not a drug and is an herb/flower but it is also a beneficial healing herb of unfathomable proportions where it's ability to target and destroy cancer cells is limitless. Too bad for BigPharma who knew this and his it to profit off our suffering.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

9. What's that got to do with Fat Freddy's warning about spills? I mean skeeds? I mean peeds?

[Journeyman]

19. It certainly does leave some people substantially disoriented, however . . .

they then carry on as if they were making perfect sense, unaware the topic they've undertaken is totally unrelated to what the rest of the room is discussing. But they're happy, and should be left alone, especially by those who would seek to profit off them.

[billhicks76]

28. Lol

[Blue_Tires]

2. Sad...

You'd think common sense would kick in (even for teenagers) before putting unknown substances in their systems...Hopefully some will learn the lessons from this tragedy...

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

3. You'd think, but no.

All you'll get is people up in arms if you dare to suggest that just maybe pure caffeine powder is something that shouldn't just be sold to any given person online, but should require the purchaser to actually be a business that is regulated in terms of how it uses the product.

[JVS]

4. Why should I have to set up a business just to make an occasional batch of caffeinated home-made...

soft drinks?

A warning label should suffice.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

22. Right on cue. nt

[Blue_Tires]

27. Well then they would just go overseas

I remember a decade ago a couple of high school baseball stars died trying to bulk up from racehorse steroids(!!) bought through the mail from Mexico, iirc...

[Mopar151]

17. The kid was a competitive wrestler

Coaches and peers are on them to "make weight" constantly, as the ideal is to wrestle a class below your normal, healthy weight. FWIW, "common sense" and "teenager" have little more than a passing relationship. Given all the various supplements, boosters and burners on the shelf at GNC and the like, good 'ol caffeine sounds safe as houses!

[sofa king]

34. I shouldn't have thought twice of it.

Part of what makes me so fortunate today is the experience of having survived an improbable--and improbably long--list of dangers that could easily have killed a less lucky person.

That risk-taking, however, did not compare at all to the death-defying decisions I made on a daily basis as a high-schooler. Sadly those days lent little to the wisdom I have today because back then I already knew everything, and therefore I learned nothing.

[awoke_in_2003]

29. Wrestlers and common sense...

do not seem to co-exist. I couldn't believe some of the things the wrestlers in high school would do to lose weight prior to weigh ins. They made football players look sane.

[totodeinhere]

6. Interesting. Amazon is selling a 1.1 lb bag of pure caffeine for $15 plus shipping.

Their reviewers give it 4.5 stars. There are 71 five star votes, 15 four star votes and only 7 one star votes.

[greyl]

8. Or a kilo for 24.99

Ultra Pure Caffeine Powder - Amazon

[DeSwiss]

20. Yep.

And they've got Roundup for as little as $11.04 per 1/2 gallon.

- It's legal too. And in your food. The FDA says this is okay, though.....

[center]

The Glyphosate Toxicity Studies You’re Not Allowed to See
[/center]

[totodeinhere]

24. Ouch. I use Roundup in my yard. n/t

[herding cats]

10. Who would want to consume that much caffeine at one time?

I'm not trying to make light of this youth's death. It's just that's a lot of caffeine. No one would want to be near me if I had the equivalent of 25 cups of coffee! I'd be posting in very forum and group on DU if I consumed that amount in one setting! I may be slightly irritating now, but with that amount no member here would have a doubt any longer as to the level of my irritation.

[totodeinhere]

23. Well people do develop a tolerance to the drug over time and require more and

more for the same fix. As a caffeine addict myself, I used to be fine with one cup of coffee but now I usually have three cups just to get my day going and then more later. But 25 cups? I agree that is a bit much. And of course the youth's death is a tragedy.

[awoke_in_2003]

30. the adrenline boost...

would come in handy prior to a wrestling match.

[Cha]

11. Poor kid.. they don't realize shit like this. That's why Regulation is needed. to save lives.

[Iliyah]

13. Amen Cha

prayers to the family.

[herding cats]

14. I completely agree.

That's an insane amount in a tiny portion. Our bodies cannot deal with those vast amounts at one time. People need to think about this in relation to the most cups of coffee they've ever had in few hours. So far, mine is 10 cups in five hours. Which is a vast amount and I have a tolerance. It still left me shaky and I'm not ashamed to say weird. This is from an otherwise healthy person. Caffeine may help you focus a bit in small doses for, say your finals, but it's not something to abuse like this. At best you're going to lose your edge and become odd, at worst you'll lose your life like this poor person. It's a lose-lose situation.

Regulation is the key. That's what our government is there for, to keep those of us who don't understand the dangers from killing ourselves just because the means is out there.

[Cha]

16. Wow! I can't even drink one cup of coffee anymore because

I'm so sensitive to caffeine. But, although everyone is different.. this is no way to take a chance to see what your capabilities for caffeine are. Poor thing.

[awoke_in_2003]

31. I have switched to English Breakfast tea...

I can't do coffee very often anymore.

[Iliyah]

12. Heard on KNX that mixing energy drinks and alcohol can be lethal

or maybe I heard it wrong and this is what they were reporting.

[sakabatou]

15. Yes, that can be lethal too

[Mopar151]

18. I worked with a former sub sailor

Who started Sundays with "Navy coffee" (with a big slug of rum). If he stayed with it all day, Monday morning looked like the wrath of a vengeful God.

[BadgerKid]

21. You can't buy them premixed anymore

So that makes sense. Look up 4Loko for more info.

[leftyladyfrommo]

25. I saw that this morning. I had no idea that

you could even buy caffeine like that.

I get jittery on not very much caffeine. Can't imagine what a teaspoon full of that stuff would be like.

[packman]

26. Seems like I read a homemade garden spray

used powdered caffeine along with tabasco sauce , tobacco water (tobacco infused water) and other shit to kill bugs in your garden.

[RebelOne]

32. For years, I have been taking two caffeine pills a day,

and have had no adverse effects. I do not drink coffee anymore because a caffeine pill work faster.

[surrealAmerican]

35. Welcome to DU

I need to ask, are you seriously suggesting that "nicotine, alcohol, prescription drugs, caffeine" should be outlawed? ... or does dosage matter?

Have you considered our history when suggesting outlawing alcohol?

[CanSocDem]

36. Back in the late 70's...

...there was a booming business of caffeine pills in the trucking industry. They were legal, cheap and available. Local dealers were franchised and full page ads in the truck rags with phone numbers would bring these dealers to the truck stop with their sample packs and off-menu items.

The original manufacturer made millions, as I remember but disappeared after the trucking industry decided that the popularity of "speed" drugs was bad for its image. No industry wants it publicly known that 'drugs' are required to do their jobs.

Just the same, it wasn't more than a few years before another 'speed' drug became legal and widely available at gas stations and truck stops across the country usually at the cash register. Ephedrine was marketed as an asthma drug or something....but quickly became a prime ingredient of illegal, home made what was generically known as CRANK.


.