The hot pepper linked to teen's death can cause arteries in the brain to spasm.
Harris Wolobah, a healthy 14-year-old from Worcester, Massachusetts, tragically died last Friday, hours after eating a single ultra-spicy tortilla chip seasoned with two of the hottest peppers in the world.
This chip has been on the market for literal years at this point and no one has died until now. I'm open to new information but I think it might be a case where the chip formula has changed, or maybe this was a condition they didn't know the child had, or any number of things.
I like spicy things. Sometimes what I enjoy is dangerous for others. I grieve for the child's parents and friends, but am waiting for more information to confirm that it was entirely the chip to blame.
I also think that we should remember that parents should be supervising these things. If my 11-year-old asked to do the challenge, I would've rightfully tried him first on something spicy that's much less spicy than this. I want to know what all this kid has tried before this challenge. If this was his first exposure to spicy things, then I think it's reasonable to be unsurprised. If that's not the case, I want to know.
According to the article, the packaging on the chip says that it's for adults only, as well as other warnings like not for anyone with existing conditions, or pregnant. So the kid did take it outside of the warming parameter stated. So it's not really the manufacturers fault.
This. If any fault could be given I'd argue it's on the retailers. The point of sale machines should have run an ID check on the chip, anything marked adults only should have the POS ask for an ID like alcohol, cigarettes, and cough syrup.