FDA To Probe Safety Of Inhalable Caffeine
By: Big 2 News Staff
Updated: February 20, 2012
U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials plan to investigate whether
inhalable caffeine sold in lipstick-sized canisters is safe for
consumers and if its manufacturer was right to brand it as a dietary
supplement.
AeroShot went on the market late last month in Massachusetts and
New York, and it's also available in France. Consumers put
one end of the canister in their mouths and breathe in, releasing a fine
powder that dissolves almost instantly.
Each grey-and-yellow plastic canister contains B vitamins, plus
100 milligrams of caffeine powder, about the equivalent of
the caffeine in a large cup of coffee.
AeroShot inventor, Harvard biomedical engineering professor David
Edwards, says the product is safe and doesn't contain taurine
and other common additives used to enhance the caffeine effect in energy
drinks.
AeroShot didn't require FDA review before hitting the U.S. market
because it's sold as a dietary supplement. But New York's
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said he met with FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret
Hamburg and she agreed to review the safety and legality of AeroShot.
"I am worried about how a product like this impacts kids and
teens, who are particularly vulnerable to overusing a product
that allows one to take hit after hit after hit, in rapid succession,"
Schumer said.
(Copyright: Associated Press)
