It seems 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.
Individuals have died after ingesting tea brewed from unwashed poppy seeds.
On supporting science journalism
If you happen to’re having fun with this text, take into account supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By buying a subscription you’re serving to to make sure the way forward for impactful tales concerning the discoveries and concepts shaping our world right this moment.
And after consuming lemon poppy seed bread or an all the things bagel, moms reportedly have been separated from newborns as a result of the ladies failed drug exams.
Poppy seeds come from the plant that produces opium and from which narcotics akin to morphine and codeine are derived. Throughout harvesting and processing, the seeds can develop into coated with the opium fluid.
Members of the Home and Senate have proposed laws “to prohibit the distribution and sale of contaminated poppy seeds in order to prevent harm, addiction, and further deaths from morphine-contaminated poppy seeds.” The invoice was one in every of a number of on the agenda for a Sept. 10 Home listening to.
The day earlier than the listening to, The Marshall Venture and Reveal reported on a girl who ate a salad with poppy seed dressing earlier than giving start, examined constructive on the hospital for opiates, was reported to youngster welfare, and noticed her child taken into protecting custody. Virtually two weeks handed earlier than she was allowed to convey her child residence, the story stated.
“It’s not an urban legend: Eating poppy seeds can cause diners to test positive for codeine on a urinalysis,” the Protection Division warned navy personnel in 2023.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Company way back issued a related 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.
“So far the FDA has been negligent in protecting consumers,” stated 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 stated it will reply to the group’s petition by the top of February 2025.
The FDA didn’t reply questions for this text. The company usually doesn’t touch upon litigation, spokesperson Courtney Rhodes stated.
A 2021 research co-authored by CSPI personnel discovered greater than 100 stories to poison management facilities between 2000 and 2018 ensuing from intentional abuse or misuse of poppy seeds, stated 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 constructive drug exams, medical doctors who’ve studied the problem stated.
It’s “exquisitely doubtful” that the “relatively trivial” quantity of morphine in an all the things bagel or the like would trigger anybody hurt, stated Irving Haber, a health care provider who has written about poppy seeds, focuses on ache drugs, and signed the CSPI petition to the FDA.
Then again, tea created from giant portions of unwashed poppy seeds might result in dependancy and overdose, medical doctors stated. The dangers are heightened if the particular person ingesting the brew can also be consuming different opioids, akin to prescription ache relievers.
Benjamin Lai, a doctor who chairs a program on opioids on the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, stated he has been treating a affected person who developed long-term opioid dependancy 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 will assist him loosen up and get better from gymnasium exercises. After a couple of months, he tried to cease and skilled withdrawal signs, Lai stated.
One other affected person, an older girl, developed withdrawal signs beneath related circumstances however responded nicely to remedy, Lai stated.
Some web sites tout poppy seed tea as providing well being advantages. And a few sellers “may use specific language such as ‘raw,’ ‘unprocessed,’ or ‘unwashed’ to signal that their products contain higher concentrations of opiates than properly processed seeds,” the CSPI lawsuit stated.
Steve Hacala’s son, Stephen Hacala, a music instructor, had been experiencing anxiousness and insomnia, for which poppy seed tea is promoted as a pure treatment, the lawsuit stated. 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 obtainable poppy seeds, a medical expert on the Arkansas State Crime Lab stated in a letter to the daddy. The medical expert wrote that poppy seeds “very likely” prompted 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 might have delivered greater than 10 instances a deadly dose.
Steve Hacala and his spouse, Betty, have funded CSPI’s efforts to name consideration to the problem. (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 Venture 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 stated.
Silakowski recalled that, earlier than going to the hospital, she had eaten lemon poppy seed bread at Tim Hortons, a fast-food chain, CSPI stated in its petition. “No one in the hospital believed Ms. Silakowski or appeared to be aware that the test results could occur from poppy seeds.”
Individuals from youngster protecting companies made unannounced visits to her residence, interviewed her different youngsters, and questioned lecturers at their college, she stated in an interview.
Whereas on maternity depart, she needed to endure drug testing, Silakowski stated. “Peeing in front of someone like I’m a criminal — it was just mortifying.”
Even members of the family have been questioning her, and there was nothing she might do to dispel doubts, she stated. “Relationships were torn apart,” she stated.
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 Submit reported that Dealer Joe’s The whole lot however the Bagel seasoning was banned and being confiscated in South Korea as a result of it incorporates 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 medication. Whereas poppy seeds are exempt from drug management beneath the Managed Substances Act, opium contaminants on the seeds aren’t, the company says. The Justice Division has introduced prison prosecutions over the sale of unwashed poppy seeds.
In the meantime, the laws to manage 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 didn’t come up on the latest listening to.
Healthbeat is a nonprofit newsroom protecting public well being revealed by Civic Information Firm and KFF Well being Information. Join its newsletters right here.
KFF Well being Information, previously often called Kaiser Well being Information (KHN), is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is among the core working applications at KFF — the unbiased supply for well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism.
