kid dies after One Chip challenge

[Charon]

14-year-old died from One Chip Challenge after passing out, family claims, after boy was sent home from school with stomachache
NEWS
ANDREW CHAPADOSSeptember 05, 2023
Images via NBC10 Boston (screenshots)
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A Worcester, Massachusetts, boy died in a hospital from what family have alleged was complications from eating an extremely spicy chip branded as the One Chip Challenge.

A viral internet trend in which participants are challenged to eat an incredibly spicy tortilla chip without drinking or eating anything for relief is accused of being the cause of death for a 14-year-old boy who ate the chip at school, according to NBC10 Boston.
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Harris Wolobah's mother said she believed the teenager died from complications from the tortilla chip and that the school should have sent him to the hospital instead of home.


The sophomore was confirmed by a Worcester Public Schools spokesman to have visited the nurse's office because he felt sick, and he was sent home with family after parents were called that day.


The boy's mother said her son told her that a classmate gave him the chip, which gave him a bad stomachache.

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After returning home, the teen reportedly felt better, but passed out in the late afternoon before he left for basketball tryouts. Wolobah's brother discovered him unconscious, and he was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.


The boy's official cause of death has not been confirmed, and the autopsy has not yet been completed. Police and officials did not share any additional information information. Police were reportedly investigating but didn't say whether any criminal activity was involved in the case.



The 2023 version of the chip, which is made by Paqui, is listed as containing "Carolina Reaper" pepper and "Naga Viper Pepper," although it is not known whether that was the exact version that was eaten.

On the company's website, Paqui lists warnings such as "keep out of reach from children," "Intended for adult consumption," "Do not eat if you are sensitive to spicy foods, allergic to peppers," and more.


The school district did not respond to request for comment regarding why the boy was sent home as opposed to the hospital or whether the district will take any action regarding the chips.

However, the district's superintendent referred to Wolobah as "a rising star" and gave condolences to his family in a statement.

"It is with a heavy heart I share that we lost a rising star, Harris Wolobah, who was a sophomore scholar at Doherty Memorial High School. As a mother and educator, I cannot imagine how hard this is on his family, friends and teachers," said Superintendent Rachel Monárrez. "My heart goes out to all who knew and loved him."


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[Charon]

[anonono]

Crazy...stupid things to do, there you go. But he probably did not know better

[mophus]

I dont believe for one second this person died because of a spicy chip. Its alot easier to sue the chip company than it is the neighborhood fetty dealer though.

[IceWizard]

14-Year-Old Dies After Trying The Paqui ‘One Chip Challenge’










What could possibly go wrong after trying the Paqui One Chip Challenge? This is the challenge where
you are supposed to eat one tortilla chip dusted with two of the hottest peppers in the world—the
Carolina Reaper and the Naga Viper—and then try to go as long as possible without eating or drinking
anything to ease the anguish. Well, over the past year, there have already been reports of kids suffering
all sorts of bad effects and even being hospitalized after trying this challenge. And on September 1,
Harris Wolobah, a 14-year-old sophomore at Doherty Memorial High School in Massachusetts, tragically
died soon after partaking in this challenge.

Now, even though it hasn’t yet been clearly established that the One event led to Wolobah’s death, the
timing has got to make you wonder. In fact, the GoFundMe page set up by Wolobah’s family did say,
“On September 1, my aunt Lois’ youngest son, Harris, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 14 from
what we suspect to be complications due to the “one chip challenge” (autopsy pending).” Basically, that day,
Wolobah visited the school’s nurse’s office complaining about not feeling well and showed the nurse a
picture of the one thing that he had just consumed: one of the Paqui chips. That’s according to reporting
from Rebecca Carballo and Remy Tumin for the New York Times. Wolobah felt so ill that he ended up leaving
school early with his parents. After returning home, Wolobah’s condition continued to deteriorate to the point
where he stopped breathing, was rushed to the hospital, and eventually died.

Again, the cause of Wolobah’s death has yet to be firmly established, pending an autopsy. But there are already
plenty of videos on social media of people shaking, sweating profusely, gasping, begging for water, and otherwise
looking very, very uncomfortable after eating the very, very spicy chip. The Paqui website used to ask people to
see “How long can you last before you spiral out,” after eating the chip and then to post their hot takes on
social media. Although, such statements have since been removed from its website, searching for the hashtag
#onechipchallenge on TikTok will return scores of videos showing people trying this one chip that sells for $9.99
and then visibly suffering more than one type of agony. Such videos have already garnered over 2 billion views
on TikTok in total. So, the challenge is that this challenge seems to be continuing.










This is another situation where it’s important to listen to your body. If your body is reacting very badly to
something then that should be a hint that it is not good for you. Although spicy food is part of many different
cuisines around the world and in many cases won’t result in much more than a feeling of warmth and perhaps
some sweating, pretty much anything in excess is bad. The Carolina Reaper and the Naga Viper are not you
run-of-the-mill peppers that will lead to no more than a bit of a tingle.

These are seriously hot peppers.



The hot from such hot chili peppers does not mean that the peppers have actually been heated to a high
temperature. Rather what’s bringing the heat is a chemical compound called capsaicin found in such peppers.
This chemical can bind to TRPV1 pain receptors that line your mouth, tongue and various other parts of your
gastrointestinal tract, which, in turn, triggers that feeling of heat and pain.

Your body can then mistake this for being under extreme heat—even though your body temperature doesn’t
actually rise to that degree—and as a result do all kinds of things to try to cool down. This includes producing
lots of sweat and expanding blood vessels to allow more body heat to dissipate through the skin. That’s why
you can get that red, flushed appearance when eating spicy food. Your body may also essentially say,
“What is this? Get this out of here!” And since your body doesn’t have a great GPS in place to specifically
identify where the capsaicin is, it can try to expel the capsaicin in a rather disordered,
let’s-just-try-everything-everywhere way. This entails increasing the production of mucus, saliva, tear, and
other fluids throughout your body. That’s why very spicy food can make you tear up, drool, and have a runny nose.









The effects can progress down your GI tract as the capsaicin makes it way down there. The initial reactions
are typically in your mouth and throat, causing them to swell, perhaps even to the point where it gets difficult
to breathe. As the capsaicin moves from your mouth down through your esophagus, you can develop burning
sensations in your chest. Next after the esophagus comes the stomach, where even more reactions can occur.
Now, contrary to a popular belief, capsaicin won’t cause stomach ulcers, but it can lead to cramping and pain
in your stomach that can lead to nausea and vomiting. This can exacerbate the symptoms of already existing
stomach ulcers and other types of already present damage. The pain doesn’t necessarily end there. It can
literally go end to end. When the capsaicin goes through your intestines and out the other end, triggering
more TRPV1 pain receptors along the way, your bowel movements can be painful as well.

All of the above are real and not imagined reactions. For example, when your throat feels like it is swelling,
it can actually be swelling and closing off your airway. Similarly, vomiting can be very real with the
stomach acid going up through your esophagus causing damage along the way. You could see how such
reactions when taken more to the extreme could end up being life-threatening. This can especially be the
case if you have some underlying medical condition such as heart problem or a gastrointestinal problem
like inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, stomach ulcers, gallbladder problems, or
gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Your first inclination when consuming spicy food might be to reach for some water and guzzle it. However,
water is not going to help clear away capsaicin, which is an oil-based substance. As the saying goes, oil
and water do not mix. In fact, water may make things worse by spreading the capsaicin further. So, instead
of dealing with “heat” in only part of your mouth, water can spread the heat to all of your mouth and throat.
A better solution is consume substances such as milk and bread, which can basically keep the capsaicin from
binding the receptors.

Of course, another way to prevent the effects of spicy food is to not consume the food in the first place. Sure,
there is evidence that eating spicy foods may be associated with positive health benefits such as lower cholesterol,
weight loss via decreased appetite and increased metabolism, reduced acid production in the stomach,
decreased pain from chronic conditions, improvement in skin conditions like atopic dermatitis and psoriasis
and even cancer prevention. However, this doesn’t necessarily apply to very, very spicy things. And as
indicated earlier, there are real risks of consuming something that is very, very spicy.

This One Chip Challenge is yet another reminder that just because someone challenges you to do something
doesn’t necessarily mean that it is safe to do. There’s very little to gain from completing such a challenge
except for maybe the entertainment of others. At the same time, while many people can get through a challenge
without permanent damage, there can be the risk of more serious problems—really serious problems.




Excerpt From Wiki

The crossbreed is between a "really nastily hot" La Soufriere pepper from
Saint Vincent and a Naga pepper from Pakistan, and was named "Reaper"
due to the shape of its tail. It has been described as having a fruity taste,
with the initial bite being sweet and then immediately turning to "molten lava".
The sensory heat or pungency detected when eating a Carolina Reaper derives
from the density of capsaicinoids, particularly capsaicin, which relates directly
to the intensity of chili pepper heat and Scoville Heat Units (SHU).

The pepper was bred in a greenhouse in Rock Hill, South Carolina, by Ed Currie,
proprietor of the Puckerbutt Pepper Company in Fort Mill. It was certified as the
world's hottest chili pepper by Guinness World Records on August 11, 2017, surpassing
the previous record set by the Trinidad Scorpion "Butch T". The official Guinness World Record
heat level was 1,641,183 SHU in 2017, according to tests conducted by Winthrop University
in South Carolina. The figure is an average for the tested batch; the hottest individual pepper
was measured at 2.2 million SHU.

In May 2017, breeder Mike Smith of St Asaph, Wales, claimed to have surpassed the Carolina Reaper
with his Dragon's Breath pepper, developed by Smith alongside Nottingham Trent University
and reported to be 2.4 million SHUs; Smith applied to Guinness World Records for confirmation.
Four months later, however, Currie claimed to have bred a stronger pepper known as
Pepper X with 3.18 million SHUs.

[Charon]

Thank you Ice. I never saw the box this death trap came in. I read of it.

Now I do see a tremendous lawsuit against this company.

I was rushing and assumed kids at school were encouraging others to do this.

That box is a coffin potentially filled with far more deaths.

TAKE IT THE HELL OFF THE MARKET YOU BASTARDS AND FAST.

Poor kid did tell his Mom I believe. But maybe he thought he would win the damned contest by not running to doctors or such.

These are our children. I pray the manufacturers and creators of this Death In a Coffin are arrested STAT. Their products removed from shelves.

AND INSTEAD OF STRESSING THAT BOYS CAN BE GIRLS AND VICE VERSA, SCHOOLS AND NEIGHBORS AND NEWS SHOULD BE STRESSING THAT GOING NEAR THAT COFFIN CAN AND HAS RESULTED IN DEATH. NOT A PLEASANT DEATH AS IT SOUNDS.

I AM ABSOLUTELY STUNNED THAT CHILDREN CAN GET HOLD OF THIS DEATH TRAP, AND YET THE ELDERS WHOM ARE DYING CANNOT GET HOLD OF USEFUL MEDS CUZ COMPANIES ONLY WANT US TO USE WACKO EXPENSIVE BS MEDS.

I AM STUNNED. THIS WORLD CARES NOTHING ABOUT ITS PEOPLE AND ESP ITS CHILDREN. LORD, STEP IN AND U TAKE THIS DOWN. THE CREATORS WILL NOT STOP UNLESS U STEP IN NOW IN JESUS NAME I PRAY.

[Charon]

Paqui's spicy 'One Chip Challenge' to be discontinued as teen's death is investigated
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Texas chipmaker Paqui, a Hershey subsidiary, says it's 'deeply saddened' by death of Massachusetts teen
The Associated Press · Posted: Sep 08, 2023 7:25 AM EDT | Last Updated: September 8
A product is shown featuring black and green colours and resembling a small coffin. The product has writing on it that includes the words 'Paqui One Chip Challenge' and 'Face the Reaper.'
A package of Paqui's 'One Chip Challenge' spicy tortilla chips is seen on Thursday in Boston. Authorities are raising the alarm about the One Chip Challenge trend on social media that encourages people to avoid seeking relief from eating and drinking for as long as possible after eating the chips. (Steve LeBlanc/The Associated Press)
The maker of an extremely spicy tortilla chip said Thursday it is working to remove the product from stores as Massachusetts authorities investigate the death of a teen whose family pointed to the One Chip Challenge popularized as a dare on social media as a contributing factor.

The cause of Harris Wolobah's death on Sept. 1 has yet to be determined and an autopsy is pending, but the 14-year-old's family blamed the challenge.

Since his death, Texas-based manufacturer Paqui has asked retailers to stop selling the individually wrapped chips, a step 7-Eleven has already taken.

The One Chip Challenge chip sells for about $10 US and comes wrapped in a sealed foil pouch that is enclosed in a coffin-shaped cardboard box. The package warns the chip is made for the "vengeful pleasure of intense heat and pain," is intended for adults and should be kept out of reach of children.

Paqui, a subsidiary of The Hershey Company, said in a statement posted on its website Thursday that it was "deeply saddened by the death" of Wolobah, from Worcester in central Massachusetts.

"We have seen an increase in teens and other individuals not heeding these warnings," the company said. "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."

High concentration of capsaicin could be fatal: doctor
In addition to its name, One Chip Challenge, the package lays out the challenge rules, which encourage the buyer to eat the entire chip, "wait as long as possible before drinking or eating anything" and post their reaction on social media. The packaging also asks how long can the individual last on a scale from one minute to one hour.

The back of the package warns buyers not to eat the chip if they are "sensitive to spicy foods, allergic to peppers, nightshades or capsaicin, or are pregnant or have any medical conditions."

The warning adds that individuals should wash their hands after touching the chip and "seek medical assistance should you experience difficulty breathing, fainting or extended nausea."

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Scores of people, including children, have posted videos of themselves on TikTok or other social media sites unwrapping the packaging, eating the spicy chips and then reacting to the heat. Some videos show people gagging, coughing and begging for water.

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

"It's possible eating these chips with high concentration of capsaicin could cause death," Chai said. "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."

Dr. Lauren Rice, the chief of pediatric emergency medicine at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, said the tragedy is an opportunity for parents, coaches, teachers to learn about the various social media challenges out there that could pose dangers.

"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," said Rice. "Some of the more severe symptoms that we see can be things like significant abdominal pain or nausea and vomiting."

Police in Worcester, the state's second-largest city, said in a statement that they were called to Wolobah's house on the afternoon of Aug. 31 and found him "unresponsive and not breathing." He was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Family and friends of Wolobah believe the chips caused his death and his family called 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," said Douglas Hill, who runs the basketball league Wolobah played in and described him as a quiet teen whose family came 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," said Hill, who organized a basketball event to honour the teen.

A vigil for the teen is planned for Friday evening at a park in Worcester.

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[Charon]

The back of the package warns buyers not to eat the chip if they are "sensitive to spicy foods, allergic to peppers, nightshades or capsaicin, or are pregnant or have any medical conditions."

The warning adds that individuals should wash their hands after touching the chip and "seek medical assistance should you experience difficulty breathing, fainting or extended nausea."

pregnant? what the hell kind of insane person would play games with a life in their womb?

Wash your hands if u touch it. U kidding me?

I hope those whom created this monstrous tool of death face serious jail time. Children are often rather naive and trusting.

God, bring judgment down on all whom are behind this. And bring peace to the family of those whom died or were sickened by this crap.

Man, this world is perfectly happy to kill us off to make money.