Teen’s death after eating a single chip highlights risks of ultra-spicy foods
stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to 
arstechnica.com
The hot pepper linked to teen's death can cause arteries in the brain to spasm.
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stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to
Maybe, just maybe we should put our pitchforks away until we know if the chip mentioned is responsible?
But... my pitchfork?
Are you saying we shouldn't put all our chips in one basket?
Or not to count the chips before they hatch?
No. On the Internet, all human events occur in the 68% range.
Or you know we can use common sense and respect that there is simply no way the chip didn't at least contribute.
Common sense is waiting for an official diagnosis from a certified professional investigating the actual body for the cause of death.
Not speculation from people on the internet that haven't even seen the body.
Nah, mate. Knowing something you didn't even bother to learn is the definition of common sense, which I made up myself.
You....yeah, I like you. You're alright. Here, hold my pitchfork so I can light my torch.
Uh, I mean, you can die at any one time without anything directly causing it. So no, it's not necessarily common sense.
And spicy foods, even very spicy ones, are consumed daily without too much medically bad happening.. certainly not more than, say, eating peanuts.
This chip isn't merely "very spicy food", it is explicitly designed to be a challenge. One single chip costs $10 and the packaging is literally shaped like a coffin.
That kind of iconography and style is common for chilli sauces.
Is it the chip's fault if this turns out to be an allergic reaction or something like that?
If such a reaction is remote, yet foreseeable to the manufacturer, the severity of the reaction (death) dictates a warning. It is a known, material risk, and the burden of warning is outweighedby the severity of the harm.
There's no warning on the package that it could result in death. The maker could be sued in products liability for negligent failure to warn.
There was a good case in Mass. against Tylenol. One possible reaction of Tylenol is that your skin could melt and fall off (not even really exaggerating). Very remote possibility, but so, so severe. Manufacture knew it was possible, didn't warn because it was so remote. But such a serious injury makes the risk material to a consumer, and so there's a duty to warn.
So I think this is the problem, the packaging says only for adults (these kids were obviously not adults), not for those sensitive to spicy food or with allergies to what I can assume are the main ingredients.
I know disclaimers are a bit woolly as to what can stand up in court, but what more should they have put:
It's only Naga and Reaper. Those are hot chillis, but I regularly cook with Reapers at home, they're not going to kill anyone on their own.
Perhaps something like "this food may cause severe gastrointestinal distress or internal bleeding, which may contribute to pulmonary distress, which in some cases may lead to heart attack, stroke, or death."
There's currently no reason to think any of that happened. Cause of death - unknown.
Is this one of those same anti-science, know-nothing takes like those that were too dumb to understand how COVID positive patients that died of heart attacks were legitimate counted as dying from COVID?
Have you ever eaten anything spicy? Did it not provoke an instantaneous physiological response? Sweating? Urinary urgency? Tachycardia? Tachypnea? Erythema?
Capsaicin is neurotoxic, a sufficient dose will kill you. In a sensitive person, or person with pre-existing conditions, a hot chip can definitely be the thing that overwhelms a person. Maybe the chip was the straw that broke the camel's back, in law and medicine, that's causal.
Drop the ad hominem attacks.
Yes, a sufficient dose of anything generally does. What's your point? The fact that millions of other people eat spicy foods at these levels and survive would indicate that no, this is not about the dose in general.
I'm Asian. We inhale spicy food. No, I don't recall Asians dying of eating something spicy. If they were sensitive (read: allergic), that's on them to know their own allergies. We don't blame peanut butter because people die after eating it.
Covid was a new virus that popped up in 2019, chilli peppers are ingredients we've been cooking with for thousends of years. We're well aware of their effects.
Yes it's a nuero-toxin, but it takes a lot to kill you. There's sauces out there that are millions of scovilles higher than either of the chillis in these crisps, as they're made with extracts and people eat them without dying all the time.
o.O You had to scientifically blather about every other condition, but couldn't use diaphoresis? For shame, little dude.
It doesn warn if gastrointestinal diestess on the left if you look "abdomen attack". The other stuff you have listed is nonsense and spicy food doesn't cause that.
Okay pal.
A warning would help sales too.
Arguably. Fools and their money, etc.