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posted by mrpg on Monday April 16 2018, @11:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the precedence:bulk dept.

FDA Bans Pure Bulk Caffeine Products, Citing "significant Public Health Concern"

Companies can no longer sell bulk packages of liquid or powdered caffeine directly to consumers, the Food and Drug Administration announced Friday. The policy will take immediate effect "given the significant public health concern," according to the agency's statement released Friday. "Highly concentrated and pure caffeine, often sold in bulk packages, have been linked to at least two deaths in otherwise healthy individuals," the agency stated.

[...] In small doses, if you're otherwise healthy, caffeine shouldn't kill you. But part of the issue is that highly concentrated caffeine looks nothing like the kinds of caffeinated products we're used to seeing. Instead, it can look like water if it's in a liquid form or sugar if it's powdered. "The consequences of a consumer mistakenly confusing one of these products could be toxic or even lethal," the agency stated.

[...] Between 10 and 14 grams of caffeine is considered life-threatening, according to the FDA's guidelines, though people can have an irregular or rapid heart rate and seizures after taking just a gram. The amount of concentrated caffeine that's considered safe at a time—200 milligrams—is very, very small.

Also at Bloomberg.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday April 16 2018, @11:07PM (19 children)

    Fucking cocksuckers. Now I'll have to buy it from outside the US.

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    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday April 17 2018, @12:51AM (18 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday April 17 2018, @12:51AM (#667875)

    That extra $0.50 for shipping is a bitch.

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    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 5, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 17 2018, @01:26AM (17 children)

      Mostly I'm just concerned that I get what I pay for in the concentration I expect. Anything else can be quite dangerous when purchasing chemicals.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday April 17 2018, @04:10AM (16 children)

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday April 17 2018, @04:10AM (#667945)

        I wonder, does Aldrich sell caffeine? I had to register with them to buy tangled long chain polymers (super-absorbent polyacrylic acid).

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        🌻🌻 [google.com]
        • (Score: 2) by rleigh on Tuesday April 17 2018, @08:47AM (15 children)

          by rleigh (4887) on Tuesday April 17 2018, @08:47AM (#667969) Homepage

          Yes, they do, we had a big jar of the stuff in my old lab.

          I'm not surprised it's being controlled now, it is a poison after all.

          At high school, one of my classmates had a project to test out the effects of increasing caffeine concentrations on Daphnia (water fleas). It would make their hearts beat faster and faster until they exploded. A can of Red Bull contains 80mg and that's enough to give me noticeable and scary heart palpitations.

          The Sigma-Aldrich MSDS: https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/MSDS/MSDS/DisplayMSDSPage.do?country=GB&language=en&productNumber=C0750&brand=SIAL&PageToGoToURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sigmaaldrich.com%2Fcatalog%2Fproduct%2Fsial%2Fc0750%3Flang%3Den [sigmaaldrich.com]

          This gives the LD50 as 367.7mg/kg in rat; other sheets have values from 120mg/kg. Whatever the corresponding value in humans, it's clear that it would require tens of grams to kill you. However, we shouldn't forget that's the lethal value which kills 50% of the test subjects, you can still suffer from permanent heart damage and not die at much lower doses, or even still die at lower doses. I know of people who were hospitalised and nearly died from drinking several cans of Red Bull; it has extreme physiological effects, and that's overall not even reached one gram. Accidentally mixing a spoonful of pure caffeine into a drink could easily be fatal.

          • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 17 2018, @10:42AM (13 children)

            A can of Red Bull contains 80mg and that's enough to give me noticeable and scary heart palpitations.

            That wasn't just the caffeine unless you also can't handle a single cup of coffee. Standard twelve-ish ounce coffee cup size not the official eight ounces in imperial fluid measurements. Should be about 150mg of caffeine, give or take.

            If you genuinely can't, your body is in astoundingly bad shape. Mine handles around 1000mg every single morning; 1500 if I didn't sleep well and need a bit more of a kick to get going.

            --
            My rights don't end where your fear begins.
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @11:53AM (10 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @11:53AM (#667995)

              > If you genuinely can't, your body is in astoundingly bad shape.

              Hey Buzz, please explain how you jump from caffeine (in)tolerance to "bad shape"? Are you treating coffee consumption as something macho?

              I'm in decent shape, about 5 pounds over the "correct" weight for my height, and have always been very caffeine sensitive. Years ago friends took me to an espresso bar...the first one tasted great but after the second I hallucinated for a half hour. To help stay alert on 1000 mile drives (16-18 hours with breaks) I chew one chocolate covered coffee bean and I'm good for another non-drowsy-hour.

              • (Score: 2, Disagree) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 17 2018, @12:25PM (9 children)

                The human body has evolved over quite a long time to be able to handle an insane variety of chemical input. If your body is less tolerant of variety than average, Darwin would say it is less fit for survival. That is what I mean.

                --
                My rights don't end where your fear begins.
                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @02:13PM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @02:13PM (#668080)

                  Not the same AC, but I'm also very sensitive to caffeine. I can handle other chemicals, no problem. I'm particularly insensitive to opiates and opiods, don't even get high at high doses let alone have any reduction in pain. I took a gram of heroin and got a light buzz (only time I've ever done, and I don't often do others).

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @02:34PM (1 child)

                  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @02:34PM (#668097)

                  Wow, now folks we've got a special treat today. Look out your left window and you can see a libertarian applying shitty logic and overly basic principles to complex human biology. Most people are too ashamed to demonstrate their lack of education, but not the free range libertarians!

                • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @05:57PM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @05:57PM (#668207)

                  The human body has evolved over quite a long time to be able to handle an insane variety of chemical input. If your body is less tolerant of variety than average, Darwin would say it is less fit for survival. That is what I mean.

                  I'm not going to try to explain to you the stupidity of your statement. And no, Darwin would never say such a stupid thing, so maybe maybe don't put words in his mouth.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @06:08PM (4 children)

                  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @06:08PM (#668213)

                  > If your body is less tolerant of variety than average, Darwin would say it is less fit for survival. That is what I mean.

                  I'm the chocolate coffee bean AC.

                  My background is very much northern European -- pale skin, red hair. Since coffee is native to tropical and southern Africa and tropical Asia I don't see any reason why my ancestors would have been selected (or not) for sensitivity to caffeine.

                  Anyway, I think my sensitivity to caffeine is a good deal, I don't waste time or money on a coffee habit. One box of chocolate coffee beans from Trader Joes might last me a few years. I don't need any stimulation to get going in the morning, wake me up and I'm on, clear headed and all ready to go. In terms of Darwin, this seems like it might be somewhat more useful/successful than a tolerance (or addiction?) to a specific stimulant.

                  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 17 2018, @06:36PM (3 children)

                    Yes, I personally know vegans who think that getting a splitting headache from someone using beef or chicken broth instead of vegetable broth makes them somehow superior as well. They're what we sane people like to call "morons". If something that most of the world can tolerate at least moderate amounts of fucks you up even in small amounts, that is what we call "inferior fitness" in an omnivore such as humans.

                    --
                    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
                    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @08:24PM (2 children)

                      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @08:24PM (#668287)

                      Don't know why you jumped to vegans and broth?

                      I'm the coffee bean AC, from N. America, and since you back-handedly questioned my diet, I'm happy to say that I eat nearly everything. The only thing I turned down in Taiwan was sheep testicle stew. I'll admit that parsnips taste (to me) like dirt, so I don't enjoy them, but that's about it for my "won't eat" list.

                      When I drink coffee (rarely) I quit at about a quarter of a normal mug, my system is making very efficient usage of a powerful stimulant. If you really want to call on Darwin...then consider that my brain has evolved sufficiently so that I quickly learned how to adapt to my coffee sensitivity.

                      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 17 2018, @08:43PM (1 child)

                        Re: vegans, I would have thought the similarities would be obvious.

                        Look, you ain't perfect but there's no need to get your panties in a wad over it. That's just life as a human being. Ain't none of us perfect and special little snowflakes. I, for instance, suck donkey balls at artsy stuff and made any number of foolish decisions growing up that I'd change if I could but you don't hear me making excuses about any of it.

                        The moral of this story is you're an imperfect hairless ape barely removed from flinging your own shit just like everyone else. Don't put on airs.

                        --
                        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
                        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 18 2018, @03:23AM

                          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 18 2018, @03:23AM (#668406)

                          > Mine handles around 1000mg every single morning; 1500 if I didn't sleep well and need a bit more of a kick to get going.

                          > Don't put on airs.

                          'nuff said.

            • (Score: 2) by rleigh on Tuesday April 17 2018, @02:54PM (1 child)

              by rleigh (4887) on Tuesday April 17 2018, @02:54PM (#668112) Homepage

              This dates back to my early twenties when I was in my physical prime. There is stuff in Red Bull as well as caffeine, which may also have contributed. However, anecdotally, several of my friends have suffered similar effects and nowadays we all refuse to drink the stuff. The release rate is also important; in coffee it might still be bound up with other constituents of the coffee so might not be as bioavailable.

          • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @03:40PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @03:40PM (#668135)

            Nicotine. With a very diluted dose you would make the water fleas hyperactive. With a larger dose they would almost instantaneously die, with maybe a barely visible blur of activity.

            Gave me a new respect for both caffeine and nicotine. Not enough to stop abusing the former, but enough to avoid the latter.