I LOVE BLoW
An American website using explicit references to cocaine to market an energy drink mix called ‘Blow’ caught the attention of the LA District Public Health Service Food and Drug Administration.
In a three-page warning letter sent to the manufacturers of the product, who also run the iloveblow.com website, the FDA conclude that ‘Blow’ is marketed as an “alternative to an illicit street drug.” The list of complaints include:
“The product comes packaged in a vial suggestive of street drug paraphernalia, such as the small vials used to store “crack cocaine”.
“The letters in the product name appear to be spelled out in a white granular substance that resembles cocaine powder.
“The name of your product, “Blow” is well known street drug terminology for illicit cocaine… “Blow” may suggest to the ordinary observer that the product may have effects on the body similar to cocaine.”
The FDA also attacks imagery alluding to drug trafficking - a speedboat being chased under the gun of a helicopter - and powder ‘lines’, “suggestive of the practice used to divide cocaine powder into very fine particles to increase the efficency of nasal absoption prior to insufflation, i.e, snorting.”
The makers of ‘Blow’ describe the product as a “Pure uncut energy mix”, a vial of which should be added to your favourite beverage and shared with friends. ‘Blow’ can be bought in a number of different sized packages including ‘The Stash Box Sampler Pack’, The Recreational User Pack and ‘The Fiender’s Hook Up’. The website sells images of semi-naked women, bling and paparazzi.
Among the list of ingredients of ‘Blow’ are taurine, isotol and caffeine- common ingredients of energy drinks such as RedBull. However, ‘Blow’ contains around twice the level of taurine, nearly three times the level of Insotol and three times the level of caffeine (roughly the equivalent of three cups of coffee) than RedBull.
Last year the FDA compelled another energy drink manufacturer, Redux beverages, to stop trading under the name ‘Cocaine’, following a similar warning letter. It has since been relaunced as Cocaine on their drinkcocaine.com website.
The FDA says ‘Blow’ is a new drug and not recognised as safe and effective for its labelled uses and it is aware of the proliferation of products being manufactured, marketed, or distributed as alternatives to illicit street drugs and being marketed as dietary supplements.
The manufacturers of ‘Blow’ had 15 days to correct violations under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
16 April 2008
DICKY TICKER
As hospital traumas go, anaesthetic awareness is pretty much up there- a veritable nightmare in fact. Picture the scene: you’re on the operating table, you’ve been given a muscle relaxant and, unable to move, the surgeon’s ready to make a first incision. Problem is the anaesthetic hasn’t worked and you’re still awake.
The risk of being affected is one in 600, according to professor Michael Wang, a clinical psychologist and leading expert on the phenomenon, rising to around one in 100 for certain procedures such as cardiac surgery, where less anaesthetic is used.
It’s the basis on which the film Awake, which opened in cinemas over the weekend, hangs. Actor Hayden Christensen plays a wealthy youth with a dicky ticker who becomes conscious during heart surgery. If that really isn’t bad enough, he overhears a plot for his murder- a lucky-unlucky happenstance.
Hollywood twist aside, how realistic is the portrayal of anaesthetic awareness in the film – awake throughout, excruciating pain, full lucidity? About a third of patients suffer pain, over half experience sound and conversation and a quarter are aware of breathing tubes, according to the Royal College of Anaesthetists.
What usually happens, says Wang, is people wake after the early part of the operation once it’s well advanced and often for only short periods. Some people don’t always recall they were awake until a few days later. Longer lasting psychological effects can be devastating- post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, chronic anxiety and flashbacks. Though strangely, many people who suffer severe psychological problems after experiencing awareness have had no pain, says Wang.
The most reliable way of avoiding awareness is the Isolated Forearm Technique, which involves tying a tourniquet around the patient’s arm, stopping the effect of muscle-relaxing drugs and allowing the patient to signal if there’s a problem.
Dreaming is very common under anaesthesia. Overhearing a murder plot- more a sign of a very active imagination.
As hospital traumas go, anaesthetic awareness is pretty much up there- a veritable nightmare in fact. Picture the scene: you’re on the operating table, you’ve been given a muscle relaxant and, unable to move, the surgeon’s ready to make a first incision. Problem is the anaesthetic hasn’t worked and you’re still awake.
The risk of being affected is one in 600, according to professor Michael Wang, a clinical psychologist and leading expert on the phenomenon, rising to around one in 100 for certain procedures such as cardiac surgery, where less anaesthetic is used.
It’s the basis on which the film Awake, which opened in cinemas over the weekend, hangs. Actor Hayden Christensen plays a wealthy youth with a dicky ticker who becomes conscious during heart surgery. If that really isn’t bad enough, he overhears a plot for his murder- a lucky-unlucky happenstance.
Hollywood twist aside, how realistic is the portrayal of anaesthetic awareness in the film – awake throughout, excruciating pain, full lucidity? About a third of patients suffer pain, over half experience sound and conversation and a quarter are aware of breathing tubes, according to the Royal College of Anaesthetists.
What usually happens, says Wang, is people wake after the early part of the operation once it’s well advanced and often for only short periods. Some people don’t always recall they were awake until a few days later. Longer lasting psychological effects can be devastating- post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, chronic anxiety and flashbacks. Though strangely, many people who suffer severe psychological problems after experiencing awareness have had no pain, says Wang.
The most reliable way of avoiding awareness is the Isolated Forearm Technique, which involves tying a tourniquet around the patient’s arm, stopping the effect of muscle-relaxing drugs and allowing the patient to signal if there’s a problem.
Dreaming is very common under anaesthesia. Overhearing a murder plot- more a sign of a very active imagination.
