Massachusetts investigates teen’s death as company pulls spicy One Chip Challenge from store shelves

WORCESTER, Mass. – The maker of a particularly spicy tortilla chip mentioned Thursday it’s operating to take away the product from retail outlets as Massachusetts government examine the death of a teenager whose circle of relatives pointed to the One Chip Challenge popularized as a dare on social media as a contributing issue.

The reason behind Harris Wolobah’s death on Sept. 1 has but to be made up our minds and an post-mortem is pending, however the 14-year-old’s circle of relatives blamed the problem.

Since his death, Texas-based producer Paqui has requested shops to prevent promoting the personally wrapped chips, a step 7-Eleven has already taken.

A vigil for the teenager is deliberate for Friday night time at a park in Worcester in central Massachusetts.

The One Chip Challenge chip sells for roughly $10 and is derived wrapped in a sealed foil pouch this is enclosed in a coffin-shaped cardboard field. The package deal warns the chip is made for the “vengeful pleasure of intense heat and pain,” is meant for adults and must be stored out of succeed in of kids.

Paqui, a subsidiary of The Hershey Company, mentioned in a commentary posted on its website online Thursday that it used to be “deeply saddened by the death” of Wolobah.

“We have seen an increase in teens and other individuals not heeding these warnings,” the company mentioned. “As a result, while the product continues to adhere to food safety standards, out of abundance of caution, we are actively working with retailers to remove the product from shelves.”

Authorities in Massachusetts also have responded by warning parents about the challenge, which is popular on social media sites such as TikTok.

Scores of people, including children, post videos of themselves unwrapping the packaging, eating the spicy chips and then reacting to the heat. Some videos show people gagging, coughing and begging for water.

“We urge parents to discuss this with their children and advise them not to partake in this activity,” Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early mentioned in a sequence of posts in regards to the problem at the social community X, previously identified as Twitter. “The company warnings state the chips are intended for adult consumption. Other states across the country have seen hospitalizations due to the chip challenge, including teens.”

There have been reports from around the country of people who have gotten sick after taking part in the challenge, including three students from a California high school who were sent to a hospital. Paramedics were called to a Minnesota school last year when seven students fell ill after taking part in the challenge.

“You can have very mild symptoms like burning or tingling of the lips in the mouth, but you can also have more severe symptoms,” said Dr. Lauren Rice, the chief of pediatric emergency medicine at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, noting this is an opportunity for parents, coaches, teachers to learn about the various social media challenges out there that could pose dangers.

“This goes back to the ingredients that are used with the tortilla chip,” she endured. “There are some spices like capsaicin, which is a chemical ingredient that we use in things like pepper spray and so they are very strong chemicals and they can be very irritating. Some of the more severe symptoms that we see can be things like significant abdominal pain or nausea and vomiting.”

Dr. Peter Chai, an associate professor of emergency medicine and medical toxicology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said the chips can be dangerous under certain circumstances.

“It’s possible eating these chips with high concentration of capsaicin could cause death,” Chai mentioned. “It would really depend on the amount of capsaicin that an individual was exposed to. At high doses, it can lead to fatal dysrhythmia or irreversible injury to the heart.”

Police in Worcester, the state’s second-largest town, mentioned in a commentary that they have been referred to as to Wolobah’s area Friday afternoon and located him “unresponsive and not breathing.” He used to be transported to a medical institution, the place he used to be pronounced useless.

Family and buddies of Wolobah imagine the chips led to his death and his circle of relatives referred to as for the chips to be banned from store shelves.

“The chip is responsible in our eyes for whatever took place because he was a healthy kid,” mentioned Douglas Hill, who runs the basketball league Wolobah performed in and described him as a quiet youngster whose circle of relatives got here to the U.S. from Liberia.

“The conversation now is about the chip, but there will be other challenges coming and we want to make sure children know they shouldn’t be participating in anything that could put them in harm’s way,” mentioned Douglas, who arranged a basketball tournament Saturday to honor the teenager.

There is little question why any person would devour the chips.

In addition to its identify, One Chip Challenge, the package deal lays out the problem regulations, which inspire the consumer to devour all of the chip, “wait as long as possible before drinking or eating anything” and post their response on social media. The packaging additionally asks how lengthy can the person ultimate on a scale from one minute to 1 hour.

The again of the package deal warns consumers to not devour the chip if they’re “sensitive to spicy foods, allergic to peppers, night shades or capsaicin or are pregnant or have any medical conditions.”

The caution provides that folks must wash their arms after touching the chip and “seek medical assistance should you experience difficulty breathing, fainting or extended nausea.”