It feels like a joke: poppy seeds infused with opioids.
Certainly, it was a plotline on the sitcom Seinfeld. However for some it has been a tragedy.
Folks have died after ingesting tea brewed from unwashed poppy seeds.
And after consuming lemon poppy seed bread or an every little thing bagel, moms reportedly have been separated from newborns as a result of the ladies failed drug checks.
Poppy seeds come from the plant that produces opium and from which narcotics corresponding to morphine and codeine are derived. Throughout harvesting and processing, the seeds can grow to be coated with the opium fluid.
Members of the Home and Senate have proposed laws “to ban the distribution and sale of contaminated poppy seeds in an effort to stop hurt, habit, and additional deaths from morphine-contaminated poppy seeds.” The invoice was one among a number of on the agenda for a Sept. 10 Home listening to.
The day earlier than the listening to, The Marshall Challenge and Reveal reported on a lady who ate a salad with poppy seed dressing earlier than giving start, examined optimistic on the hospital for opiates, was reported to little one welfare, and noticed her child taken into protecting custody. Virtually two weeks handed earlier than she was allowed to deliver her child residence, the story mentioned.
“It’s not an city legend: Consuming poppy seeds could cause diners to check optimistic for codeine on a urinalysis,” the Protection Division warned army personnel in 2023.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Company way back issued the same warning to athletes.
The Middle for Science within the Public Curiosity, a watchdog group, petitioned the FDA in 2021 to restrict the opiate content material of poppy seeds. In Might, after greater than three years with no response, it sued the company to power motion.
“To date the FDA has been negligent in defending shoppers,” mentioned Steve Hacala, whose son died after consuming poppy seed tea and who has joined forces with CSPI.
The lawsuit was placed on maintain in July, after the FDA mentioned it might reply to the group’s petition by the top of February 2025.
The FDA didn’t reply questions for this text. The company typically doesn’t touch upon litigation, spokesperson Courtney Rhodes mentioned.
A 2021 research co-authored by CSPI personnel discovered greater than 100 studies to poison management facilities between 2000 and 2018 ensuing from intentional abuse or misuse of poppy seeds, mentioned CSPI scientist Eva Greenthal, one of many research’s authors.
Solely hardly ever would baked items or different meals gadgets containing washed poppy seeds set off optimistic drug checks, medical doctors who’ve studied the difficulty mentioned.
It is “exquisitely uncertain” that the “comparatively trivial” quantity of morphine in an every little thing bagel or the like would trigger anybody hurt, mentioned Irving Haber, a physician who has written about poppy seeds, focuses on ache drugs, and signed the CSPI petition to the FDA.
Alternatively, tea comprised of massive portions of unwashed poppy seeds may result in habit and overdose, medical doctors mentioned. The dangers are heightened if the individual ingesting the brew can also be consuming different opioids, corresponding to prescription ache relievers.
Benjamin Lai, a doctor who chairs a program on opioids on the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, mentioned he has been treating a affected person who developed long-term opioid habit from consuming poppy seed tea. The affected person, a person in his 30s, discovered it at a well being meals retailer and was beneath the impression it might assist him calm down and get better from gymnasium exercises. After a number of months, he tried to cease and skilled withdrawal signs, Lai mentioned.
One other affected person, an older girl, developed withdrawal signs beneath related circumstances however responded effectively to therapy, Lai mentioned.
Some web sites tout poppy seed tea as providing well being advantages. And a few sellers “might use particular language corresponding to ‘uncooked,’ ‘unprocessed,’ or ‘unwashed’ to sign that their merchandise comprise increased concentrations of opiates than correctly processed seeds,” the CSPI lawsuit mentioned.
Steve Hacala’s son, Stephen Hacala, a music trainer, had been experiencing anxiousness and insomnia, for which poppy seed tea is promoted as a pure treatment, the lawsuit mentioned. In 2016, at age 24, he ordered a bag of poppy seeds on-line, rinsed them with water, and consumed the rinse. He died of morphine poisoning.
The one supply of morphine present in Stephen’s residence, the place he died, was commercially accessible poppy seeds, a health worker on the Arkansas State Crime Lab mentioned in a letter to the daddy. The health worker wrote that poppy seeds “very seemingly” brought about Stephen’s demise.
Steve Hacala estimated that the amount of poppy seeds present in a 1-liter plastic water bottle in his son’s residence may have delivered greater than 10 occasions a deadly dose.
Steve Hacala and his spouse, Betty, have funded CSPI’s efforts to name consideration to the difficulty. (The writer of KFF Well being Information, David Rousseau, is on the CSPI board.)
The lawsuit additionally cited moms who, like these within the investigation by The Marshall Challenge and Reveal, ran afoul of guidelines meant to guard newborns. For instance, although Jamie Silakowski had not used opioids whereas pregnant, she was initially prevented from leaving the hospital together with her child, the go well with mentioned.
Silakowski recalled that, earlier than going to the hospital, she had eaten lemon poppy seed bread at Tim Hortons, a fast-food chain, CSPI mentioned in its petition. “Nobody within the hospital believed Ms. Silakowski or seemed to be conscious that the take a look at outcomes may happen from poppy seeds.”
Folks from little one protecting providers made unannounced visits to her residence, interviewed her different kids, and questioned lecturers at their faculty, she mentioned in an interview.
Whereas on maternity depart, she needed to endure drug testing, Silakowski mentioned. “Peeing in entrance of somebody like I am a prison — it was simply mortifying.”
Even members of the family had been questioning her, and there was nothing she may do to dispel doubts, she mentioned. “Relationships had been torn aside,” she mentioned.
The guardian firm of Tim Hortons, Restaurant Manufacturers Worldwide, which additionally owns Burger King and Popeyes, didn’t reply to questions from KFF Well being Information.
In July, The Washington Put up reported that Dealer Joe’s All the pieces however the Bagel seasoning was banned and being confiscated in South Korea as a result of it comprises poppy seeds. Dealer Joe’s didn’t reply to inquiries for this text. The seasoning is listed on the market on the corporate’s web site.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Company says unwashed poppy seeds can kill when used alone or together with different medicine. Whereas poppy seeds are exempt from drug management beneath the Managed Substances Act, opium contaminants on the seeds should not, the company says. The Justice Division has introduced prison prosecutions over the sale of unwashed poppy seeds.
In the meantime, the laws to regulate poppy seed contamination has not gained a lot traction.
The Senate invoice, launched by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), has two co-sponsors.
The Home invoice, launched by Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), has none. Although it was on the agenda, it did not come up on the latest listening to.
Healthbeat is a nonprofit newsroom protecting public well being printed by Civic Information Firm and KFF Well being Information.
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