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By David Gortler
While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finally taken steps to close a regulatory loophole regarding “poppers” and amyl nitrate at the 11th hour, right before President Donald Trump’s FDA commissioner has taken office, they haven’t advanced regulatory action on illicit marketing, sales and abuse of nitrous oxide.
Nitrous oxide (also referred to as laughing gas) has clinical use as a sedative in dentistry and medicine.
It is also available without a prescription as an oxidizer to increase oxygen levels in gasoline in automobile racing, and for culinary purposes as a propellant for whipped cream for those individuals who are, for one reason or another, averse to using an inexpensive pastry bag or a spoon and some Cool Whip.
In case anyone has ever found litter on the street, wondering what it was, it’s from nitrous oxide abuse.
Much like THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and hallucinogenic compounds, disposable containers of nitrous oxide gas can be purchased by anyone.
Manufacturers are permitted to sell these disposable containers of nitrous oxide for “culinary” purposes for an essentially non-existent percentage of professional pastry chefs who frequent vape shops and gas stations to purchase single-use charge cartridges for their kitchens.
Whipped cream history, nitrous oxide and modern street abuse
Aerosolized whipped cream canisters were invented in 1948 by Aaron Lapin and sold under the name Reddi-Wip. Who could have predicted that his innocuous fruit and dessert topping would be a topic of abuse and public health?
As a brief chemistry tutorial, and before one says, “Why don’t they …” carbon dioxide isn’t a good option for people who insist on using propellant-based whipped cream.
It reacts with water to produce carbonic acid. While an acidic “zing” might be a welcome flavor in a soft drink, it is an unpleasant addition to a sweet cream.
Nitrous oxide abuse (referred to as a “whippet” from its Reddi-Wip naming origin) is made possible by companies who market it using names that are well-known street-synonym slang for drug use.
They clearly imply the potential for abuse or “getting high.”
These include: “Baking Bad” (sic) Cosmic Gas, Galaxy Gas, HOTWHIP, InfusionMax, Crazy Whip, MassGass (which specifically advertises online as follows: “MassGass – Nitrous Oxide Cream Chargers Take You to the …”) and “Miami Magic.”
One manufacturer (MassGass) even goes so far as an attempt to legitimize the safety of their product by stating “Safety, and Speed — Guaranteed” when these products are definitely NOT safe when deliberately inhaled.
Manufacturers also deceptively tout them as “certified by FDA, ISO, and CE standards” and that “Every charger sold on our platform is directly sourced from licensed manufacturers, guaranteeing 100% genuine quality” and that their nitrous oxide products are “DOT-compliant.”
In an attempt to advance the mirage that their products are for the professional chef, manufacturers even go so far as to include recipes on their website (apparently, only four recipes total exist within the world’s database of culinary knowledge).
Manufacturers promote flavors, colorful advertisement animations and packaging not toward pastry chefs and their extremely narrow professional implementation, but toward the youth market where it only serves the purpose of abuse.
While it is unclear how one exactly would flavor a gas, available flavors include rainbow candy, blueberry bliss, caramel frappe, cotton candy, grape, mint, pink bubble gum, strawberry, melon and watermelon, among others, with new nitrous oxide “flavors” being developed all the time.
It’s unclear to this scientist-author how manufacturers are going about “flavoring” a gaseous product.
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Obvious circumvention of regulation
Much like how narcotic manufacturers shrug their shoulders and defend their illicit practices, stating on their products “Do not inhale” and “For food purposes only,” their abuse is obvious.
Stating some analogy of “We just sell the products — we can’t be held responsible for what happens to it once it leaves our premises” won’t work.
That argument failed for controlled substance manufacturers and distributors and it will fail for nitrous oxide sellers and manufacturers who know full well that their product is dangerous when inhaled.
According to the very FDA which should have stepped up years ago to warn Americans, inhaling nitrous oxide displaces oxygen and can result in a range of serious health problems, from abnormal blood counts, asphyxiation, blood clots, frostbite, headache, impaired bowel and bladder function, lightheadedness, limb weakness, loss of consciousness, numbness, palpitations, paralysis, psychiatric disturbances (delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, depression), tingling, trouble walking, vitamin B12 deficiency, and in some cases, death.
For some individuals who regularly inhale nitrous oxide, this habit can lead to prolonged neurological effects, including spinal cord or brain damage — even after stopping use.
FDA unequally exercising its regulatory authority to warn consumers
The FDA could have been warning consumers years ago … if it wanted to. The FDA only put up a single webpage on March 14.
In the past, the FDA very prominently and selectively (and incorrectly) warned about the dangers of off-label use of drugs during COVID-19 like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.
When the FDA chose to speak out against hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19, it commenced a salvo of social media ads plus multiple dedicated webpages and videos against it, despite all working from home.
The FDA even advertised its success in warning consumers over the internet, which caused its website to become “the number one internet search leading to FDA webpages” and “at the top of trending topics on social media platforms.”
Clearly, the FDA knows exactly how to inform Americans about critical product safety … when it feels like it.
As the FDA only returned to full-time, in-person office work on Monday, March 17, after around five years of working remotely, perhaps now they will finally implement their regulatory authority to protect America’s youth.
It would be a simple regulatory fix and well within the FDA’s authority.
The United Kingdom (U.K.) took action years ago despite working under 0.005% of the U.S. FDA’s budget: Much like synthetic food dyes, America’s FDA is — once again — behind others, including the U.K.
The U.K. implemented regulations and laws to address nitrous oxide abuse many years ago, despite operating under approximately 0.005% of the U.S. FDA’s $8 billion annual budget.
Until the FDA steps up to protect Americans, these deceitful “laughing gas” manufacturers, vape shops and gas stations will have the “last laugh” at the expense of our health.
Heritage is listed for identification purposes only. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect any institutional position for Heritage or its Board of Trustees.
DISCLAIMER: This article is not medical advice. Do NOT start or discontinue ANY drug without first discussing it with a pharmacist or physician you know and trust.
Originally published by Brownstone Institute.
David Gortler, doctor of pharmacy, is a pharmacologist, pharmacist, research scientist and a former member of the FDA Senior Executive Leadership Team who served as senior adviser to the FDA commissioner on matters of FDA regulatory affairs, drug safety and FDA science policy.
