It seems like a joke: poppy seeds laced with opioids.
In fact, it was a story arc Sitcom Seinfeld. But for some it was a tragedy.
People have died after drinking tea created from unwashed poppy seeds.
And after eating lemon poppy seed bread or an every little thing bagel, moms were reportedly separated from their newborns since the women failed drug tests.
Poppy seeds come from the plant produces opium and from which narcotics comparable to morphine and codeine are obtained. During harvest and processing, the seeds may turn into coated with the opium liquid.
Members of the House of Representatives and Senate have Legislative proposals “To prohibit the distribution and sale of contaminated poppy seeds in order to prevent harm, addiction and further deaths caused by poppy seeds contaminated with morphine.” The bill was one in all several on the agenda September 10 Hearing within the House of Representatives.
The day before the hearing The Marshall Project And Discover reported on a girl who ate a salad with poppy seed dressing before giving birth, tested positive for opiates within the hospital, was reported to child protective services, and saw her baby taken into protective custody. It was nearly two weeks before she was allowed to bring her baby home, the story goes.
“It's not an urban legend: Consuming poppy seeds can cause guests to test positive for codeine on a urinalysis,” the Defense Department said warned the military personnel in 2023.
The US Anti-Doping Agency issued one a protracted time ago similar warning to athletes.
The Center for Science within the Public Interest, a watchdog group, applied to the FDA in 2021 to limit the opiate content of poppy seeds. In May, after greater than three years of no response, it got here sued the agency Force motion.
“So far, the FDA has been negligent in protecting consumers,” said Steve Hacala, whose son died after consuming poppy seed tea and who has partnered with CSPI.
The lawsuit was placed on hold in July after the FDA said it might reply to the group's petition by the tip of February 2025.
The FDA didn’t reply to questions on this text. The agency generally doesn’t comment on litigation, said spokeswoman Courtney Rhodes.
A Study 2021 The study, co-authored by CSPI staff, found greater than 100 reports to poison control centers between 2000 and 2018 that resulted from intentional misuse or misuse of poppy seeds, said CSPI scientist Eva Greenthal, one in all the study's authors.
Only rarely will baked goods or other foods containing washed poppy seeds trigger positive drug tests, said doctors who’ve studied the issue.
It is “extremely doubtful” that the “relatively insignificant” amount of morphine in a bagel or similar would cause harm to anyone, said Irving Haber, a health care provider who has done so written about poppiesmakes a speciality of pain medicine and has signed the CSPI petition to the FDA.
On the opposite hand, tea created from large quantities of unwashed poppy seeds could lead on to addiction and overdose, doctors said. The risk increases if the person drinking the brew also uses other opioids, comparable to prescription painkillers.
Benjamin Lai, a health care provider who runs an opioid program on the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said he treated a patient who developed a long-term opioid addiction from consuming poppy seed tea. The patient, a person in his 30s, found it in a health food store and felt it might help him chill out and get well from understanding on the gym. After just a few months, he tried to quit and commenced experiencing withdrawal symptoms, Lai said.
Another patient, an elderly woman, developed withdrawal symptoms under similar circumstances but responded well to treatment, Lai said.
Some web sites tout poppy seed tea as having health advantages. And some sellers “may use specific terms such as 'raw,' 'unprocessed,' or 'unwashed' to signal that their products contain higher concentrations of opiates than properly processed seeds,” the CSPI lawsuit says.
Steve Hacala's son, Stephen Hacala, a music teacher, suffered from anxiety and insomnia, for which poppy seed tea is touted as a natural treatment, the lawsuit says. In 2016, at age 24, he ordered a bag of poppy seeds online, rinsed it with water and drank the conditioner. He died of morphine poisoning.
The only source of morphine present in Stephen's home where he died was commercially available poppy seeds, an Arkansas State Crime Lab forensic pathologist said in a letter to the daddy. The coroner wrote that Poppy was “very likely” answerable for Stephen’s death.
Steve Hacala estimated that the quantity of poppy seeds present in a 1-liter plastic water bottle at his son's home could have produced greater than 10 times a fatal dose.
Steve Hacala and his wife Betty have funded CSPI's efforts to bring attention to the issue. (KFF Health News Editor David Rousseau is on the CSPI Board.)
The lawsuit also cited moms who, like those in The Marshall Project and Reveal's investigation, violated rules protecting newborns. For example, although Jamie Silakowski didn’t use opioids during her pregnancy, she was initially prevented from leaving the hospital along with her baby, the lawsuit says.
Child protective services employees visited her home unannounced, interviewed her other children and questioned teachers at her school, she said in an interview.
During her maternity leave, she needed to undergo a drug test, Silakowski said. “Peeing in front of someone like I was a criminal – that was just shameful.”
Even members of the family questioned her and there was nothing she could do to clear the doubts, she said. “Relationships have been torn apart,” she said.
Tim Hortons' parent company, Restaurant Brands International, which also owns Burger King and Popeyes, didn’t reply to questions from KFF Health News.
In July, The Washington Post reported that Trader Joe's was stocking every little thing but bagel seasoning banned and confiscated in South Korea since it comprises poppy seeds. Trader Joe's didn’t reply to inquiries about this text. The spice is obtainable on the market on the corporate's website.
The USA Drug Enforcement Administration says unwashed poppy seeds will be fatal when used alone or together with other medications. While poppy seeds are exempt from drug control under the Controlled Substances Act, opium contamination within the seeds isn’t, the agency said. The Justice Department has taken criminal motion over the sale of unwashed poppy seeds.
Meanwhile, laws to manage poppy contamination has not gained much traction.
The Senate bill introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has two co-sponsors.
The House bill, introduced by Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), has none. Although it was on the agenda, it was not raised on the recent hearing.
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